For those of you who haven’t heard HB 2097 has been introduced in the House to merge LEOFF 1 with LEOFF 11 under the control of the LEOFF 11 Pension Board.
 
All LEOFF 1 monies would be put into a single account under the control of the plan II Board. LEOFF 1 members would have no say in how it is spent.

The Board would regulate our pension exclusive of any medical benefits. The bill is very confusing at best and not well thought out. Two other bills HB2068 and HB2071 are also tied to this issue. In an attempt to deal with a $5B shortfall the Legislature introduced HB2068 which cuts the contribution rate for LEOFF 11 which in turn saves the State $15m and causes a $75m deficit in the LEOFF 11 account.

Merging the 2 plans supposedly solves their problem. The explanation is too complicated to explain here.

Myself, Dick Warbrouck president of state retired firefighters and Jerry Taylor president of Seattle Police retired met yesterday with Kelly Fox president of Wa. State Firefighters and some of his Board members to get to the bottom of how this happened and who is behind it.

After a lengthy several hour discussion everyone agreed this was not well thought out and no one can say absolutely this is good or bad for LEOFF 1 or LEOFF 11. There are too many questions to be answered.

We were able to get some assurances from Mr. Fox and a commitment that Fire would not push this bill at this time. He also promised to keep us in the loop of any changes. I have as yet not obtained the same from WACOPS.

All this is a very short explanation to a very complicated issue so all I can ask of each of you at this time is to have some trust in the three of us. For now we need everyone to call their Legislator and ask them for the following:

(1) vote no on HB 2068 and 2071

(2) continue to fully fund LEOFF 11

(3) place HB 2097 on hold to be fully vetted and discussed after session in the interim by all stakeholders.

HB 2097 has a lot of issues that need to be clarified.

In the mean time contact has been made with Joe Fischnaller and Phil Talmage for legal advice. The LEOFF 11 Board is also seeking a legal opinion on this bill’s legality so much is being done. Rest assured if HB2097 passes we will move forward with the other LEOFF 1 groups in whatever manner appropriate.

I anticipate that the LEOFF 1 Coalition will hit the panic button and claim “the sky is falling” in an attempt to raise money. I suggest that no money be sent at this time and we work to kill the bill first. If that doesn’t work there will be plenty of time to raise money for legal defense later. We will keep you posted. For those of you with computers register at www.leoff1.net The site will have up to the minute accurate information. Anyone needing more info give me a call 425-244-1411.


Please get this out to all your members asap we need this to happen NOW.