The Legislature passed Engrossed House Bill (EHB) 2391 which created plan choice for new members of the Teachers' and the School Employees' Retirement Systems on or after July 1, 2007, and repealed gain sharing after a final distribution on January, 1, 2008. It also changed the early retirement reduction factors for PERS, SERS and TRS Plans 2 and 3.
However, if a court of law decides the repeal of gain sharing is invalid, the early retirement reductions that were in place before the passage of the new law will apply. Additionally, if the court decides the repeal of gain sharing is invalid any new SERS or TRS members hired after that action would no longer have a choice between Plan 2 and Plan 3 and would be mandated into Plan 3.
We have created a generic Plan Choice Booklet to replace the PERS Plan Choice Booklet. This new booklet contains updated language on gain sharing. For this reason, we are sending a new supply (ten percent of PERS members working for you) which will arrive the week of July 9. In support of the repeal of gain sharing, we need you to do the following:
We have updated and in some cases, renamed several publications/forms:
Access these and other useful documents supporting plan choice on the DRS Forms and Publications Web page.
Note: Information on our New Hire Pyramid will be updated next week.
The ICMA-RC Internet site has been updated in support of Plan Choice and the repeal of gain sharing.
Summary information about this legislation is currently available on our Web site and may be useful in explaining the impact to your employees.
Teachers concurrently working for your institution and as a teacher for a SERS employer or School for the Blind or School for the Deaf may be eligible to choose TRS Plan 2 or Plan 3. For those teachers eligible to choose, provide them with the new generic Plan Choice Booklet.
Should you have questions, please call Employer Support Services at 360-664-7200 (press option 2) or l-800-547-6657 (press option 6 then option 2).