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Senate committee approves
Bailey’s minimum pension bill,
hears retire-rehire
The Senate Ways and Means
Committee approved with a "do-pass" recommendation Tuesday a measure
prime-sponsored by
Rep. Barbara Bailey
that would establish a $1,000
minimum monthly benefit for long-time retired teachers and public
employees.
House Bill 2687 would expand eligibility for the benefit to both the
PERS-1 (Public Employees’ Retirement System) and TRS-1 (Teachers’
Retirement System) members who have had at least 20 years of service and
have been retired for at least 25 years.
Bailey, R-Oak Harbor, sponsored the measure to help long-time retirees
who can barely live on the pension checks they receive.
"Their base salaries of more than 25 years ago were very low in
comparison with salaries paid in recent years. Retirement benefits are
calculated on those salaries. Unfortunately, there aren’t any factors
tied to these pensions that would allow their minimum monthly benefits
to be adjusted for inflation or cost of living," said Bailey, a member
of the Joint Select Committee on Pension Policy. "Many of these elderly
retired people are just barely getting by on much less than $1,000 a
month. This increase will be very helpful for those who served our state
for such a long time, such a long time ago."
The bill, which has already received unanimous House approval, was sent
to the Senate Rules Committee for further consideration.
The Senate Ways and Means Committee also accepted testimony on Bailey’s
"retire-rehire" measure, House Bill 2689, that would close the other
half of an unintended loophole in the state’s 2001 retire-rehire law.
The original loophole allowed state employees in both the PERS-1 and
TRS-1 pension plans to retire in name only and immediately return to
their old jobs while collecting retirement checks. In 2003, Bailey
introduced legislation to close the loophole for teachers and state
employees. The Legislature approved her measure. However, Gov. Gary
Locke vetoed half of the bill.
"When half of the bill was vetoed, it left the previous law intact for
members of TRS-1. This bill brings the two systems in unison, eliminates
the disparity between the two, and will save money in the retirement
system, especially when we can close what has sometimes been a
convenient loophole for some retirees," said Bailey during the committee
hearing.
Further action on the retire-rehire bill is expected at a later date.
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For more information, contact:
John
Handy, Assistant Director: (360) 786-5758
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