Addressing duty-related death benefits for public safety employees (EHB 2519)

This bill, requested by the LEOFF Plan 2 Retirement Board, would provide a comprehensive package of benefits to augment the existing duty-related death benefits for LEOFF 2 members including:

Provide all survivors of duty-related deaths in LEOFF 2 and WSPRS 2 with the same choice currently provided to survivors of members with 10 or more years of service (ongoing pension or 150% withdrawal).
Eliminate the actuarial reduction for the joint and 100% survivor benefit for duty-related deaths in LEOFF 2 and WSPRS 2.
Provide a 10% minimum pension benefit for duty-related deaths.
Increase the $150,000 lump-sum duty-related death benefit to reflect inflation since 1996 and add an inflationary adjustment for the future.
Eliminate the remarriage prohibition for workers' compensation benefits for surviving spouses of public safety employees killed in the course of employment. Surviving spouses who have already had their benefits suspended due to remarriage will have their benefits reinstated.
Require state universities and community colleges to waive all tuition fees and activity fees for children and surviving spouses of any law enforcement officer or firefighter who is killed or totally disabled in the line of duty.

At their meeting on January 26, the AWC Board of Directors voted to support the proposal. EHB 2519 passed the House on February 3 on a 93-0 vote.

Increasing the duty-related death benefit for public employees (EHB 1547)

This bill, a holdover from the 2009 session, would increase from $150,000 to $175,000 the lump-sum death benefit that is paid to survivors of state, school district, or higher education employees or members of PERS, LEOFF, TRS, SERS, PSERS, VFFRORPS, or WSPRS who die as a result of injuries sustained in the course of employment. The $175,000 death benefit would be payable from either the member’s retirement plan for members of the Washington State Retirement Systems or from sundry claims if the employee was not covered by one of the state retirement systems. The bill is now in the House Rules Committee.

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