Port workers PERS membership

AN ACT Relating to membership in the public employees' retirement 1
system for port workers who participate in a federal railroad 2
retirement plan, a union-sponsored defined benefit retirement plan, 3
or another employer-funded private pension plan; and amending RCW 4
41.40.023. 5
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:6
Sec. 1. RCW 41.40.023 and 2024 c 247 s 1 are each amended to 7
read as follows: 8
Membership in the retirement system shall consist of all 9
regularly compensated employees and appointive and elective officials 10
of employers, as defined in this chapter, with the following 11
exceptions: 12
(1) Persons in ineligible positions; 13
(2) Employees of the legislature except the officers thereof 14
elected by the members of the senate and the house and legislative 15
committees, unless membership of such employees be authorized by the 16
said committee; 17
(3)(a) Persons holding elective offices or persons appointed 18
directly by the governor: PROVIDED, That such persons shall have the 19
option of applying for membership during such periods of employment: 20
AND PROVIDED FURTHER, That any persons holding or who have held 21
S-3634.1
SENATE BILL 5905
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Senator Short
Prefiled 12/17/25.
p. 1 SB 5905
elective offices or persons appointed by the governor who are members 1
in the retirement system and who have, prior to becoming such 2
members, previously held an elective office, and did not at the start 3
of such initial or successive terms of office exercise their option 4
to become members, may apply for membership to be effective during 5
such term or terms of office, and shall be allowed to establish the 6
service credit applicable to such term or terms of office upon 7
payment of the employee contributions therefor by the employee with 8
interest as determined by the director and employer contributions 9
therefor by the employer or employee with interest as determined by 10
the director: AND PROVIDED FURTHER, That all contributions with 11
interest submitted by the employee under this subsection shall be 12
placed in the employee's individual account in the employee's savings 13
fund and be treated as any other contribution made by the employee, 14
with the exception that any contributions submitted by the employee 15
in payment of the employer's obligation, together with the interest 16
the director may apply to the employer's contribution, shall not be 17
considered part of the member's annuity for any purpose except 18
withdrawal of contributions; 19
(b) A member holding elective office who has elected to apply for 20
membership pursuant to (a) of this subsection and who later wishes to 21
be eligible for a retirement allowance shall have the option of 22
ending his or her membership in the retirement system. A member 23
wishing to end his or her membership under this subsection must file, 24
on a form supplied by the department, a statement indicating that the 25
member agrees to irrevocably abandon any claim for service for future 26
periods served as an elected official. A member who receives more 27
than fifteen thousand dollars per year in compensation for his or her 28
elective service, adjusted annually for inflation by the director, is 29
not eligible for the option provided by this subsection (3)(b);30
(4) Employees holding membership in, or receiving pension 31
benefits under, any retirement plan operated wholly or in part by an 32
agency of the state or political subdivision thereof, or who are by 33
reason of their current employment contributing to or otherwise 34
establishing the right to receive benefits from any such retirement 35
plan except as follows: 36
(a) In any case where the retirement system has in existence an 37
agreement with another retirement system in connection with exchange 38
of service credit or an agreement whereby members can retain service 39
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credit in more than one system, such an employee shall be allowed 1
membership rights should the agreement so provide; 2
(b) An employee shall be allowed membership if otherwise eligible 3
while receiving survivor's benefits; 4
(c) An employee shall not either before or after June 7, 1984, be 5
excluded from membership or denied service credit pursuant to this 6
subsection solely on account of: (i) Membership in the plan created 7
under chapter 2.14 RCW; or (ii) enrollment under the relief and 8
compensation provisions or the pension provisions of the volunteer 9
firefighters' relief and pension principal fund or the reserve 10
officers' relief and pension principal fund under chapter 41.24 RCW;11
(d) Except as provided in RCW 41.40.109, on or after July 25, 12
1999, an employee shall not be excluded from membership or denied 13
service credit pursuant to this subsection solely on account of 14
participation in a defined contribution pension plan qualified under 15
section 401 of the internal revenue code; 16
(e) Employees who have been reported in the retirement system 17
prior to July 25, 1999, and who participated during the same period 18
of time in a defined contribution pension plan qualified under 19
section 401 of the internal revenue code and operated wholly or in 20
part by the employer, shall not be excluded from previous retirement 21
system membership and service credit on account of such 22
participation; 23
(5) Patient and inmate help in state charitable, penal, and 24
correctional institutions; 25
(6) "Members" of a state veterans' home or state soldiers' home;26
(7) Persons employed by an institution of higher learning or 27
community college, primarily as an incident to and in furtherance of 28
their education or training, or the education or training of a 29
spouse; 30
(8) Employees of an institution of higher learning or community 31
college during the period of service necessary to establish 32
eligibility for membership in the retirement plans operated by such 33
institutions; 34
(9) Persons rendering professional services to an employer on a 35
fee, retainer, or contract basis or when the income from these 36
services is less than fifty percent of the gross income received from 37
the person's practice of a profession; 38
(10) Persons appointed after April 1, 1963, by the liquor and 39
cannabis board as contract liquor store managers; 40
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(11) Employees of a labor guild, association, or organization: 1
PROVIDED, That elective officials and employees of a labor guild, 2
association, or organization which qualifies as an employer within 3
this chapter shall have the option of applying for membership;4
(12) Retirement system retirees: PROVIDED, That following 5
reemployment in an eligible position, a retiree may elect to 6
prospectively become a member of the retirement system if otherwise 7
eligible; 8
(13) Persons employed by or appointed or elected as an official 9
of a first-class city that has its own retirement system: PROVIDED, 10
That any member elected or appointed to an elective office on or 11
after April 1, 1971, shall have the option of continuing as a member 12
of this system in lieu of becoming a member of the city system. A 13
member who elects to continue as a member of this system shall pay 14
the appropriate member contributions and the city shall pay the 15
employer contributions at the rates prescribed by this chapter. The 16
city shall also transfer to this system all of such member's 17
accumulated contributions together with such further amounts as 18
necessary to equal all employee and employer contributions which 19
would have been paid into this system on account of such service with 20
the city and thereupon the member shall be granted credit for all 21
such service. Any city that becomes an employer as defined in RCW 22
41.40.010(13) as the result of an individual's election under this 23
subsection shall not be required to have all employees covered for 24
retirement under the provisions of this chapter. Nothing in this 25
subsection shall prohibit a city of the first class with its own 26
retirement system from: (a) Transferring all of its current employees 27
to the retirement system established under this chapter, or (b) 28
allowing newly hired employees the option of continuing coverage 29
under the retirement system established by this chapter.30
Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, persons 31
transferring from employment with a first-class city of over four 32
hundred thousand population that has its own retirement system to 33
employment with the state department of agriculture may elect to 34
remain within the retirement system of such city and the state shall 35
pay the employer contributions for such persons at like rates as 36
prescribed for employers of other members of such system;37
(14) Employees who (a) are not citizens of the United States, (b) 38
do not reside in the United States, and (c) perform duties outside of 39
the United States; 40
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(15) Employees who (a) are not citizens of the United States, (b) 1
are not covered by chapter 41.48 RCW, (c) are not excluded from 2
membership under this chapter or chapter 41.04 RCW, (d) are residents 3
of this state, and (e) make an irrevocable election to be excluded 4
from membership, in writing, which is submitted to the director 5
within thirty days after employment in an eligible position;6
(16) Employees who are citizens of the United States and who 7
reside and perform duties for an employer outside of the United 8
States: PROVIDED, That unless otherwise excluded under this chapter 9
or chapter 41.04 RCW, the employee may apply for membership (a) 10
within thirty days after employment in an eligible position and 11
membership service credit shall be granted from the first day of 12
membership service, and (b) after this thirty-day period, but 13
membership service credit shall be granted only if payment is made 14
for the noncredited membership service under RCW 41.50.165(2), 15
otherwise service shall be from the date of application;16
(17) The city manager or chief administrative officer of a city 17
or town, other than a retiree, who serves at the pleasure of an 18
appointing authority: PROVIDED, That such persons shall have the 19
option of applying for membership within thirty days from date of 20
their appointment to such positions. Persons serving in such 21
positions as of April 4, 1986, shall continue to be members in the 22
retirement system unless they notify the director in writing prior to 23
December 31, 1986, of their desire to withdraw from membership in the 24
retirement system. A member who withdraws from membership in the 25
system under this section shall receive a refund of the member's 26
accumulated contributions. 27
Persons serving in such positions who have not opted for 28
membership within the specified thirty days, may do so by paying the 29
amount required under RCW 41.50.165(2) for the period from the date 30
of their appointment to the date of acceptance into membership;31
(18) Persons serving as: (a) The chief administrative officer of 32
a public utility district as defined in RCW 54.16.100; (b) the chief 33
administrative officer of a port district formed under chapter 53.04 34
RCW; or (c) the chief administrative officer of a county who serves 35
at the pleasure of an appointing authority: PROVIDED, That such 36
persons shall have the option of applying for membership within 37
thirty days from the date of their appointment to such positions. 38
Persons serving in such positions as of July 25, 1999, shall continue 39
to be members in the retirement system unless they notify the 40
p. 5 SB 5905
director in writing prior to December 31, 1999, of their desire to 1
withdraw from membership in the retirement system. A member who 2
withdraws from membership in the system under this section shall 3
receive a refund of the member's accumulated contributions upon 4
termination of employment or as otherwise consistent with the plan's 5
tax qualification status as defined in internal revenue code section 6
401. 7
Persons serving in such positions who have not opted for 8
membership within the specified thirty days, may do so at a later 9
date by paying the amount required under RCW 41.50.165(2) for the 10
period from the date of their appointment to the date of acceptance 11
into membership; 12
(19) Persons enrolled in state-approved apprenticeship programs, 13
authorized under chapter 49.04 RCW, and who are employed by local 14
governments to earn hours to complete such apprenticeship programs, 15
if the employee is a member of a union-sponsored retirement plan and 16
is making contributions to such a retirement plan or if the employee 17
is a member of a Taft-Hartley retirement plan; 18
(20) Beginning on July 22, 2001, persons employed exclusively as 19
trainers or trainees in resident apprentice training programs 20
operated by housing authorities authorized under chapter 35.82 RCW, 21
(a) if the trainer or trainee is a member of a union-sponsored 22
retirement plan and is making contributions to such a retirement plan 23
or (b) if the employee is a member of a Taft-Hartley retirement plan;24
(21) Employees who are removed from membership under RCW 25
41.40.823 or 41.40.633; 26
(22) Persons employed as the state director of fire protection 27
under RCW 43.43.938 who were previously members of the law 28
enforcement officers' and firefighters' retirement system plan 2 29
under chapter 41.26 RCW may continue as a member of the law 30
enforcement officers' and firefighters' retirement system in lieu of 31
becoming a member of this system; ((and))32
(23) Persons hired on or after June 6, 2024, employed by a public 33
transportation benefit area as defined in RCW 36.57A.010 as part-time 34
bus drivers serving naval shipyards if the employee is simultaneously 35
employed on a full-time basis with an employer of the federal 36
government and is making contributions to the federal employees' 37
retirement system; and38
(24)(a) Persons employed by a port district who are participants 39
in:40
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(i) A federal railroad retirement plan under the federal railroad 1
retirement act; or2
(ii) A union-sponsored defined benefit pension plan to which the 3
port district is required to make employer contributions under a 4
collective bargaining agreement.5
(b) Persons described in (a) of this subsection are ineligible 6
for membership in the public employees' retirement system for any 7
period during which the port district is making or has made employer 8
contributions to such a plan. 9
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