3
Legislative Highlights
By FORREST V. STEWART
Executive Secretary
The last few days of the Legislatiy^
session are, for manyBBBgbglS and or
ganizations, the most anxious days. It
is during those days that unwanted
measures may pop unexpectedly out of
a committee or a favffilfe; bill may be
left behind at a d jo u rm fS t. At this
writing the O SEA p r o g r a i3 ® « u a lly
completed. There arte however, many
bills still in ^m m iW e'-that ■aBMf-,y||cffl
importance to state employees.
the bills amending the re
tirement law in which-iOSEA is pri
marily interested have passed through
both hoiises and are awaiting th^^^H
nature of the governor. These^bills in
clude House Bill '638 (substitute for
SB 131) which provides for the pay
ment of $4.00 E^ r O sar per month for
prior service to a maximum of y20
years. This bill carries an emergency
^ W se . and will become effective on
Ju ly 1,, 1951. T h isy r^ ^ ^ ^ CTwill apply
also to those|who have been retired;
from the St;ate service and the increase
from $2.50 to $4.00 should be reflected
in the retirement check for Ju ly.
Senate Bills 97 , and-98 were bills
introduced at the request of the re
tirement board but carried amend
ments» of interest to O SEA . SB 97
provi-^^MKr the participation in the
;S.t,a.te. system by emnfiil||pBn, annexed
political sub -divjSw s; S O I up? ¡a for
mula through which political sub-td^a
visions, other than B ch < »lM «t.riH M
may withdraw|from the state system.
There is p S ^ ction p^bvided for - those
emploa^^^KO'fj a p S j S a l sub-division
who have already retired and those
who do not wish to withdraw from
the system. The bill; provides that all
administrative|||iosts are ¿tq4]|||, paid;
from the iml|stment
This
procedure will affect a saving to both
employee and emnloaUBM
A new formula for computing years
of employment is set up by/ this mea
sure, as'follows, “ For employment be
fore the employee' established mem
bership in the Public Employees Re
tirement System, a member shall bet,
Considered. to have been employed for
one year fogeach year, of prior service
g | | | i t allowed, and for any minor frac
tion of a year of continuous service as-
certified by this employer for which
no prior ^service , credit was granted.
After having established membership
in the Public Employees Retirement
System a member shall be considered
to have been employed I one year for
each 12-months period or major frac-
tion thereof during which time he re
v i v e d ^>mpensation for employment
w M | entitled him tWmembership in
the system, as evidenced by pay-roll
P ^ b rd M M r the purpose of determin
ing a member’s eligibility for disability
benefits, no leave of absence after an
employee ceases to work for any par-
ticipating employer shall be considered
other than accumulated sick leave not
ih ’^ ^ ^ B o f 90 days.”
Senate;/ ¿.ill 98 providers for an as
sistant executive secretary to’ the re
tirement board; clarifies the proce
dure for withdrawing contributions at
severance. Members should keep in
mind that under this amendment the
withdrawal of contributions cancels/
all rights in the system including prior
service credit. Present retired mem-
bers of the B ste m under the unmodi
fied or non-optional plan may now
withdraw in a lump sum all monies
remaining to their credit (both em
ployee and employer contributions) if
their monthly, allowance has been
$5.00 or 1OSS This amendment reads
as follows: “Any member of the sys
tem whose total retirement allowance