We are now working the Senate bill SB6563 companion to HB2350. We now need everyone to send email,write call whatever to your senator and house members.
 
Council Firefighters put out an email saying we are threatening legislators and that there is an Atty. General opinion implying support for the bill. Not true.

Also send the message to your email list and ask everyone to contact their Legislator on our behalf. Remember this bill also negatively effects the public budgets as well.

Some important talking points. Use them if you wish but put in your words and send to both your House & Senate legislators. Most important now is the Senate.

1. A legal analysis done by 2 attorneys one being Phil Talmage ex State Supreme Court chief justice points out several legal issues that will have to be litigated if the bills pass.
   
2. Contrary to what the WSCFF has put out the Attorney General's office did not vet this bill and proclaim it legal. The AG stated there could be no analysis absent an actual bill to look at and there was none at the time. See State Actuary web site merger study for the letter.
   
3. Ice Miller,tax attorney firm also points out that no legal analysis was done and only tax issues were reviewed. See Actuary report.
   
4. In the section on Governance section there is no guaranteed equal representation of LEOFF 1 on the new Board.
   
5. Allows a non elected board to determine the employer and state's contribution rate,funding policy and pension benefits with no Legislative oversight.
   
6. Terminate the bills and send all the interested parties to the table in the interim and come up with a bill that works for all and addresses everyone's issues. Don't spend valuable Legislative time and money on a bill that will no doubt be litigated to obtain the same result.

We have both the Fischnaller and Talmage legal analysis available if your Legislator wants a copy.

Ken Crowder

Good morning all. Yesterday (Wednesday) I attended the LEOFF Plan 11 Board meeting. We had a large turnout of LEOFF 1 members so thanks for all who attended. I believe they got the message that we care and we're not going to go away.

I just received a copy of the LEOFF 1 Coalition annual report. Mr. Peery did a good job of thanking all the Legislators who opposed HB2097 but that's about it. What they did not do was acknowledge all the other organizations that helped defeat the bill. Had it not been for Dick Warbrouck who knows when they would have even known about the bill. The report is extremely short but does make several requests for money. At this time there is no need to raise funds. The Coalition is believed to be very flush with our money. It would be helpful if they were forth coming and provided a detailed itemization of where the money was spent. Just to say they need money to fight the fight doesn't cut it.

(Editor's Note: LEOFF1.Net is not on the Coalition mailing list, but as soon as we get a copy we will publish a review.  We strongly suggest that you do not send them any money at this time.)

It was a long tiring legislative session but in the end LEOFF 1 prevailed despite the constant battle with WACOPS,WSCFF and FOP. HB2097 was not exactly defeated but it was severely wounded. The Legislature provided $75k for the State Actuary to do an interim study. The LEOFF 11 Board is also looking at the bill and trying to decide what action if any they will take regarding the 2012 session. The bill is still active and can be brought up again next session. Hopefully it won’t but who knows.

HB2097 as you know has been placed on inactive status for the time being. It could and most likely will surface in some fashion in the 2012 session. In the 2012-13 budget the Legislature appropriated $75k for the State Actuary to study the bill impact and report back to the House Ways & Means by Dec.15. In addition the Actuary was directed to seek input from LEOFF 1 and from the LEOFF 11 Board. At this time we do not know in what form this study will take place.

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.

Well by now everyone has either read the newspapers, saw TV news or otherwise heard about the Gov. plan to eliminate the COLA for PERS1 & TERS1 pensions. This has generated a lot of discussion and worry by some about what it means for LEOFF 1.

The plan by the Gov. only pertains to State employees and has no effect on LEOFF 1. We are guaranteed our COLA under 41.26.

PERS & TERS 1 are covered under a 1995 law enacted with a provision that it is not contractual and can be eliminated by the Legislature at any time. I have contacted Jamie Daniels, WACOPS Executive Director and she and Lee Reeves, our lobbyist have talked to the Gov. office and confirmed only PERS & TERS are being discussed. I also contacted Joe Fischnaller this morning and brought him up to speed on what is going on. He too is not overly concerned. What we have to do is just keep an eye on the situation.

LEOFF 11 I believe would be in a more vulnerable position than LEOFF 1 so be assured that WACOPS & Council of Firefighters will monitor this. There is nothing else going on and should anything change or happen regarding LEOFF 1. I will let you know. The RCW for the 1995 legislation re PERS & TERS is 41.40.197.

FYI I had contacted each of you earlier this year with my plan to resign my position with WACOPS Executive Board but circumstances changed and I'm still here and keeping an eye on LEOFF 1 along with Jerry Taylor, LEOFF1.net,and Dick Warbrouck, Retired FF of Washington

Thursday, March 11, was the last day of the regular legislative session. The legislature has been called back to pass a budget and revenue package and the special session will begin Monday, March 15th. We will continue to track the budget process for funding measures important to law enforcement. There is still a possibility that priority legislation that did not pass during the regular session may be funded – notably SB 6550 and SB 6316.

I'm happy to report that HB2226 went to the Governor today and will be signed asap. This was the remedy bill to address the problem for those agencies that denied concealed weapon permits under Federal HR218 because they couldn't do background checks because of some FBI rule that disallowed access for that purpose. We owe a big thank you to Rep. Mark Ericks who found sponsors for this bill to fix the problem and to WACOPS lobbyist Lee Reaves who worked it through the legislative system for us. Thanks to both for their help.

Sincerely,
Ken Crowder
WACOPS Retired Pos. #8

Webmaster's Note: HB 2226 deals with the right of retired law enforcement officers to carry a concealed weapon in any State.  Many retired officers seeking such authority have been blocked by some bureaucratic rules.  This bill corrects that problem.  For more information about this bill, click here.

Ken Crowder reports on the resolution of the Moses Lake lawsuit and reviews other LEOFF 1 issues for members of the WACOPS retired members. 

 WACOPS was contacted by the Department of Retirement Systems with an alert that they would be releasing personal information on all members enrolled in a state retirement system including LEOFF 1, LEOFF 2, WSP, PERS, SERS, and TERS.

The LEOFF1 Medical Study Committee has been meeting monthly throughout the summer to get the fact book put together. This week we met to review the draft copy and to provide Sandy Matheson,Director DRS,any changes that needed to be made. She will be finalizing the report in the coming weeks and we will have a conference call to approve it. A copy of the report will be sent to each member of the Select Committee On Pension Policy as well as being posted on the DRS website.

Joe Fischnaller has three actions currently going. He has filed a lawsuit against the City of Moses Lake and the Port of Moses Lake for refusing to pay for benefits provided to LEOFF1 members by the Grant Co. Disability Board.

Ken Crowder details information about the WACOPS Retired group including information about securing a free membership.