Hawkbells Article \u2013 May 3, 2019<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a mixed\nsession for school retirees. Some important victories were achieved,\nbut there were disappointments as well. The Medicare Eligible\nHealthcare Benefit was restored to its pre-recession peak of $183 per\nmonth. Additionally, Plan 2 and Plan 3 retirees who retire before the\nage of 65 have the ability to work part time in schools without\njeopardizing their pension check. WSSRA also joined in an effort with\nAARP Washington and King County Assessor John Wilson to help freeze\nyour property taxes. But frustration was a common theme throughout\nthe session too. For retirees, the major irritation came from the\nexclusion of the SCPP approved Plan 1 COLA from the final budget\nproposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Legislators finished\nthis session in the nick of time with several last-minute deals. The\nState constitution required legislators to finish the Regular Session\nat 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, April 28th<\/sup>. They finished at\n11:58 p.m. For the state budget written by Senator Rolfes and\nRepresentative Ormsby to work, both chambers had to agree on $2\nbillion in new taxes. Those votes happened late at night on the final\nweekend. A final compromise was reached on a school levies was also\nreached at the last minute. In order to get Republicans to drop\nnumerous amendments that would have eaten up precious time,\nDemocratic leaders agreed to pass some Republican priority\nlegislation that sailed through the process from committee to final\npassage in five minutes at 11:50 p.m. It was an eventful final\nevening! \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n WSSRA\u2019s biggest\ndisappointment was the exclusion of the Plan 1 COLA. The House budget\nproposal included both the COLA and the medical restoration. The\nSenate included neither. House members are keen on blaming the\nSenate. Senate members say there was not enough revenue to cover a\nCOLA. The cost for the COLA was $38 million in a $52 billion-dollar\nbudget that included billions in new tax revenue. The financial\nargument does not hold water. Please continue to press your\nlegislators about this over the interim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Medicare\nEligible Healthcare benefit was lowered from $183 per month to $150\nper month in 2011. WSSRA is happy to report the restoration of this\nbenefit. It will help to keep insurance prices flat next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Import improvements\nfor Plan 2 & 3 retirees were also passed this year. In 2008 the\nstate lowered the retirement age for Plan 2 & 3; however, that\nchange came with one important caveat. Individuals who accepted the\nimproved retirement benefits were banned from working in any state or\nlocal (DRS covered) employer until the age of 65. If signed by the\nGovernor, our legislation will allow those retirees to work part time\nin TRS \/ SERS covered school positions. It only excludes\nadministrative positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Current law forces a\nstrange predicament on some new school employees. New recruits are\ngiven 90 days to pick a pension plan. If they do not choose, they are\ndefaulted into the hybrid Plan 3 at a 5% contribution rate for the\nduration of their employment in that district. WSSRA believes those\nrules are silly and was proud to sponsor SB 5360 to change the\ndefault plan to Plan 2, the traditional pension plan. That drama is\nnow over and starting in the year 2020, new employees who default\nwill default into Plan 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is excellent\nnews to report in the world of senior citizen tax relief. The passage\nof SB 5160 will increase income thresholds for property tax freezes\nand exemptions. We believe that a large number of school retirees\nwill now qualify for a freeze on future property tax increases. The\nexemption will be based on income and county of residence, but any\nClark County retiree household with a household income of under\n$48,500 will likely qualify for the freeze. It will be an important\nproject for the WSSRA state office and local units to help retirees\napply for their new property tax assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nThe mission for the next few months in clear. There must be continued\nadvocacy on the Plan 1 COLA for the 2020 legislative session. The\ncurrent COLA bills in the system are still alive for next year. The\nother imperative is to help retirees sign up for their property tax\nfreeze. That benefit will only be offered to qualified applicants<\/strong>.\nIt is on us to help WSSRA members know that their property taxes\nneedn\u2019t increase every year. This will take some work, but will be\nworth the effort. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sincerely,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peter Diedrick,\nLegislative Director<\/p>\n\n\n\n Washington State\nSchool Retirees\u2019 Association<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hawkbells Article \u2013 May 3, 2019 It was a mixed session for school retirees. Some important victories were achieved, but there were disappointments as well. The Medicare Eligible Healthcare Benefit was restored to its pre-recession peak of $183 per month. Additionally, Plan 2 and Plan 3 retirees who retire before the age of 65 have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wssra-units.org\/southwest-unit30\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wssra-units.org\/southwest-unit30\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wssra-units.org\/southwest-unit30\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wssra-units.org\/southwest-unit30\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wssra-units.org\/southwest-unit30\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wssra-units.org\/southwest-unit30\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":794,"href":"https:\/\/www.wssra-units.org\/southwest-unit30\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793\/revisions\/794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wssra-units.org\/southwest-unit30\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wssra-units.org\/southwest-unit30\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wssra-units.org\/southwest-unit30\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}