This afternoon the House Ways & Means Committee heard two pieces of legislation that would propose changes to the current pension policies for higher education institutions.

House Bill 1083 eliminates Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) and Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) Plan 1 provisions permitting retirees to receive benefits while employed in retirement system-covered positions for up to 1,500 hours per year. In addition, the bill would add positions covered by the Higher Education Retirement Plan to those included in the postretirement employment pension restrictions for PERS, TRS, the School Employees’ Retirement System, and the Public Safety Employees’ Retirement System.

House Bill 1262 limits the employees to which state institutions of higher education may offer the Higher Education Retirement Plan (HERP), instead of the Public Employees’ Retirement System(PERS) Plans 2 or 3, to faculty and senior academic administrator employees.

In addition, the bill eliminates the HERP Supplemental Benefit to employees that enter the plan after the effective date of the act; replaces the defunct Public Pension Commission with the Select Committee on Pension Policy on the committees responsible for overseeing the HERPs; creates a presumption that retirees that return to work for their previous employers fewer than three months after his or her accrual date did not separate from service; and applies the PERS post-retirement employment rules to positions covered by the HERPs.

Representatives from the University of Washington, Washington State University, and community and technical colleges testified in support of the bills with concerns.