Session brings some threats
by Pat Thompson, Council 2 Deputy Director on February 9, 2012Session Brings Some Threats
At the half way mark, the 2012 Legislative Session brought some familiar threats to local government employees and even added a few new ones.
Senate Bill 6543
Sponsored by: Tom (D), Baumgartner (R), Kastama (D), Holmquist-Newbry (R), Sheldon (D), Schoesler (R) and Hewitt (R).
This short sided measure would unfairly exclude overtime payments from being included in your pension formula. The back story to this bill stems from a high ranking State Patrol employee who worked a ridiculously high amount of overtime just prior to his retirement in an attempt to artificially “balloon" his pension. Even though this person is under investigation for fraud, this knee jerk reaction would unfairly hurt hourly workers who regularly work overtime. It also would protect administrative employees who simply roll their overtime into their regular salary. This means most management could still have their “overtime” counted while their employees take a hit to their pension.
HB 2441
Sponsored by: Bailey (R), Alexander (D)
This is a more reasoned response to the overtime ballooning issue. Basically it would simply identify very high amounts of overtime and generate a bill for the employer to pay if it costs the retirement system extra money.
Senate Bill 6378
Sponsored by: Zarelli (R), Baumgartner (R), Parlette (R), Hill (R) and Tom (D).
By far the worst pension bill to date! It does 3 bad things:
1) It forces all new hires into Plan 3.
2) Eliminates all Early Retirement Options for new hires.
3) Skips the Employer’s Payment to reduce the Unfunded Liability of Plan I.
Here are more reasons we oppose this measure.
1) It would raise the rates for all Plan II members.
2) It would lower the investment returns of the State Investment Board.
3) It would increase the State debt for Plan I.
HB 2641 – Sponsored by: Springer (D), Takko (D), Kagi (D) and Eddy (D)
Please call your legislators on the Legislative Hotline at
1-800-562-6000 and ask them to support these measures. To find your legislator or district, visit: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder