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After this latest deadline, focus shifts to legislators holding town halls and committee hearings.

A brief summary of selected bills and/or issues still in play is below.

There is a real difference between the House and the Senate leadership in how to deal with the surplus funds in LEOFF 1 and the need for a COLA in TRS/PERS Plans 1. The struggle appears to be between SSB 5085 and HB 2034. (See below)

1. : seeks to establish a Legacy Retirement System. The bill merges the assets, liabilities, and membership of Law Enforcement Officers’ and Firefighters’ Retirement System Plan 1, Public Employees’ Retirement System Plan 1 (PERS Plan 1), and the Teachers’ Retirement System Plan 1 (TRS Plan 1) retirement systems into the new Legacy Retirement System.

   The firefighters argue that this proposal is illegal. The bill will seek approval from the IRS which implies uncertainty as to legality. See HB 2024 below.

   The bill passed the Senate 28/21 and has been moved to House Appropriations which held a public hearing 3/1/3/25.

2. /: Creates an annual increase in the retirement benefits of retirees in the Public Employees’ Retirement System and the Teachers’ Retirement System Plan 1, of up to 3 percent. Both of these bills are currently stalled but could be deemed NTIB.

3. : Removes revisions related to resetting and reamortizing supplemental pension contribution rates over a new 15-year period. It modifies (chart given) changes to the normal cost rates adopted by the Pension Funding Council. That bills reset rates (mostly reductions) for past benefit enhancements and base rates. It passed the Senate 48/0.

   SB 5357 has been moved to Rules. HB 1467 remained in House Appropriations. Either bill may be deemed NTIB.

4. : Concerning benefits authorized to be offered by the public employees’ benefits board. This bill would allow HCA to the following employee-paid, voluntary benefit plans: 39 (a) Emergency transportation; (b) Identity protection © Legal aid; (d) Long-term care insurance; (e) Noncommercial personal automobile insurance; (f) Personal homeowner’s or renter’s insurance; (g) Pet insurance; (h) Specified disease or illness-triggered fixed payment insurance, hospital confinement fixed payment insurance, (i) Travel insurance.

   It passed the Senate 48/0/1 and has been referred to House Appropriations.

5. : Permits individuals retired from the public employees’ retirement system, the teachers’ retirement system, the school employees’ retirement system, and the public safety employees’ retirement system additional opportunities to work for up to 1,040 hours per year while in receipt of pension benefits in non-administrative positions. In addition, someone who enters service in a second-class school district as either a district superintendent or an in-school administrator shall continue to receive pension payments while engaged in such service until the retiree has rendered service for more than 1,040 hours in a school year. This bill will sunset 1/1/2030.

   This bill passed the Senate 41/7.

6. : Providing a benefit increase to certain retirees of the public employees’ retirement system plan 1 and the teachers’ retirement system plan. This bill provides a one-time 3 percent increase to the retirement benefits of retirees in the Public Employees’ Retirement System and the Teachers’ Retirement System Plan 1, up to $110 per month.

   This bill is in Rules. It is a bill that WSSRA and its members view as a fallback option should SSB 5085 (above) not be successful in the House. Likely NTIB.

7. : Extending the expiration of certain school employee postretirement employment restrictions to 2027.

   Until January 1, 2027, retirees from the Teachers’ Retirement System are permitted to collect retirement benefits for the first 1,040 hours per calendar year when either: (1) are employed in a non-administrative position; or (2) having retired before January 1, 2022, are employed in a second-class school district as a district superintendent or an in-school administrator position.

   The bill passed the House 97/0/1 and has been assigned to Senate Ways and Means.

8. : Concerning termination and restatement of plan 1 of the law enforcement officers’ and firefighters’ retirement system. This bill terminates the Law Enforcement Officers’ and Firefighters’ Retirement System Plan 1 (LEOFF 1) and creates the Restated Law Enforcement Officers’ and Firefighters’ Retirement System (Restated LEOFF) on June 30, 2029.

   • Benefits to members are unchanged by the transfer from LEOFF 1 to the Restated LEOFF.
   • Provides for a transfer of assets from LEOFF 1 to the Restated LEOFF to 120 percent of fully funding the benefits of the new plan.
   • Enables the small number of active employees of LEOFF 1 to retire in service prior to the transfer.
   • Provides for immediate vesting of all remaining terminated, nonvested members of LEOFF 1 prior to the transfer.
   • Deposits remaining assets in the Pension Funding Stabilization Account, from which they may be transferred to the State General Fund.

   It is believed that terminating and reinstating LEOFF Plan 1 would be legal. Also, unlike SSB5085 above, the excess dollars would be put into the GF and legislators could then spend it as they see fit rather than dedicating it for COLA’s.

   The House held a public hearing on the bill on 3/13/25.

A selected intro to some bills that could have fiscal impact /costs to districts:

: Expanding protections for workers in the state paid family and medical leave program.

This second substitute House bill: Extends employment protection rights in the Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) Program to any employee who began employment with their current employer at least 180 calendar days before taking leave, regardless of the size of the employer.

• Allows employers to prevent stacking certain employment protection rights by extending employment protection in the PFML Program to periods of unpaid leave protected by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, so long as the employer provides certain notices to the employee, and providing that employment protection expires after certain periods.
• Expands health care coverage protection during any period in which an employee receives PFML Program benefits and is also entitled to employment protection. Expands access to grants for small employers to offset the costs of employees’ use of leave in the PFML Program.2E

E2SHB 1213 was passed by the House 55/41/2. Costs to state/employers from fiscal note are still indeterminate. However, the fiscal note does state, “This legislation would have an indeterminate, but potentially significant, impact on local governments.”

: Concerning access to personnel records. An employer subject to the PRA must provide a copy of the personnel file when requested by an employee, former employee, or their designee in accordance with the procedures and requirements set forth in the PRA. Passed the House 56/41/1.

: Modifying the annual regular property tax revenue growth limit. This bill changes the 101 percent revenue growth limit for state and local property taxes to 100 percent plus population change and inflation, with a capped limit of 103 percent.

Should counties/cities be allowed to increase their taxes from .02% to .03%, this could affect M & O levy success/asks. This bill had a public hearing on 2/11 before House Finance. (NTIB)

: Concerning workplace standards and requirements applicable to employers of isolated employees.

This bill: Requires the Department of Labor and Industries to enforce requirements for employers of isolated employees. (Current estimates suggest that as few as 17 percent of covered employers are complying.) Requirements include training and furnishing of panic buttons. An example of an eligible employee may be the evening janitorial staff. This bill passed the House 86/10/2.

: Concerning workers’ compensation benefits. This bill modifies/increases the percentages of wages an injured worker, particularly those unmarried with children, may receive for workers’ compensation benefits. It passed the House 78/18/12.

: An act relating to unemployment insurance benefits for striking or lockout workers.

This bill: Allows individuals unemployed due to a labor strike to receive unemployment insurance (UI) benefits following a specified disqualification period and the waiting week, provided that the labor strike is not found to be prohibited by federal or state law in a final judgment.

• Limits the number of weeks a striking worker may receive UI benefits to 12 weeks.
• Removes the provision disqualifying an individual for UI benefits based on an employer-initiated lockout resulting from a strike against another employer in a multi-employer bargaining unit.
• Requires the Employment Security Department to provide an annual report to the Legislature regarding the prevalence of strikes and the impact on the UI Trust Fund.
• Provides a ten-year sunset for the act.

This bill passed Senate 28/21 and was sent to House Labor for public hearing 3/8 and Executive Session 3/21.

: Expanding access to leave and safety accommodations to include workers who are victims of hate crimes or bias incidents.

This bill: Expands access to leave and safety accommodations available to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, to include victims of hate crime.

This bill passed the Senate 40/8/1 and has been sent to House Labor for a public hearing on 3/21.

: Establishing a complaint process to address willful noncompliance with certain state education laws.

This bill: Directs the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to establish a process to investigate and address complaints alleging willful noncompliance with state laws concerning civil rights; harassment, intimidation, and bullying; certain curriculum requirements; the use of restraint or isolation on a student; and student discipline.

• Requires school districts, charter schools, and state-tribal education compact schools to submit compliance action plans if OSPI finds noncompliance with any of these state laws and allows OSPI to impose certain consequences for willful noncompliance.
• Directs the Professional Educator Standards Board to adopt rules that make a school district superintendent’s willful noncompliance with state law an act of unprofessional conduct. Amends the oath that elected or appointed school directors take to include that they must support Washington State laws.

The ”Con” and “Other” testimony submitted by a few school districts and WSSDA:

CON: People can already report concerns to OSPI. This bill creates a snitch line, which will only create division and animosity. OSPI picks and chooses what it will act on in accordance with the agenda of the superintendent. This bill threatens financial penalties, which undermines the autonomy of schools. Diversity is not a one-size-fits-all concept, and school districts have a lot of diversity and should be able to adapt to the unique needs of their community. This bill will cause legal chaos, and people will threaten filing complaints with OSPI.

OTHER: This bill has operational and fiscal concerns. The financial penalties in this bill could further harm students. This bill puts OSPI in an adversarial position with school districts instead of being their partners. The election process provides checks and balances.

The Senate passed the bill 30/19. It has been referred to House Education.

: Implementing the recommendations of the long-term services and supports trust commission.

The substitute bill: Prohibits out-of-state participants from withdrawing from the Long Term Services and Supports Trust Program (Program).

• Make the exemption from the Program automatic for active-duty military service members with off-duty civilian work and employees holding a nonimmigrant visa for temporary work.
• Allows an exempt employee who previously attested to having long-term care insurance to rescind the exemption prior to July 1, 2028.
• Allows for a limited pilot program in 2026 to assess the Program’s processes and system capacities.
• Creates standards and requirements for supplemental long-term care insurance policies designed for coverage after Program benefits are exhausted.

ESSB 5291 passed Senate 38/11 and has been sent to House Early Learning/Human Services Committee.

: Concerning paid family and medical leave rates.

This bill: Requires the Employment Security Department Commissioner to set the paid family and medical leave program premium rate based on the Office of Actuarial Services annual report.

• Mandates the Office of Actuarial Services annual report to provide for a rate to close the rate collection year with a three-month reserve beginning in 2030, in addition to the current requirement to maintain a four-year solvency.
• Eliminates the statutory formula used to calculate the rate.

The bill passed the Senate 45/4 and has been assigned a public hearing 3/18 before House Labor.

Fred Yancey The Nexus Group LLC