Cmobine state retirement systems to save $600M

Published 1:30 am Sunday, March 16, 2025

Sen. June Robinson’s Senate Bill 5085 passed the Senate Floor on March 3.

Merging three closed retirement plans: Law Enforcement Officers’ and Fire Fighters’ Retirement System 1, Public Employee’s Retirement System 1 and Teachers’ Retirement System, It would use the LEOFF surplus to pay off the PERS 1 and TRS 1 unfunded liabilities, saving the state $600 million in interest fees over four years.

It would provide PERS 1 and TRS 1 retirees a permanent Cost of Living Adjustment of up to 3% without one dime of new state money.

Created with 78% state money, the LEOFF 1 fund is today $2 billion and 149% overfunded. No one has paid anything into it since 2000.

In 2022 LEOFF 1 retirees received bonus checks of $100 per month of service. That’s $30,000 for 25 years. 98% male, they enjoy the state’s best retirement plan: a fully indexed COLA with fully-paid medical. Under SB 5085 they would keep that plan. Nearly all other state retirement plan enjoy permanent COLAs up to 3%. Only PERS 1 and TRS 1, majority female plans, have had no permanent COLA since 2011. Many retirees face prices 80% higher now than when they retired.

Essentially free to the state, SB 5085 is the only chance for a PERS and TRS 1 permanent COLA in the next five years. It can’t replace what’s already been lost, but it will stop future bleeding, That is all important!

Timothy Knopf

Everett