Source: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?Cite=2.10&full=true
Timestamp: 2019-12-13 11:13:20
Document Index: 514566093

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Chapter 2.10 RCW: JUDICIAL RETIREMENT SYSTEM
RCWs > Title 2 > Chapter 2.10
Chapter 2.10 RCW
2.10.010 Short title.
2.10.030 Definitions.
2.10.040 System created—Coverage—Exclusions.
2.10.052 Retirement board abolished—Transfer of powers, duties, and functions.
2.10.070 Retirement board—Duties.
2.10.080 Funds and securities.
2.10.090 Funding.
2.10.100 Retirement for service or age.
2.10.110 Service retirement allowance.
2.10.120 Retirement for disability—Procedure.
2.10.130 Retirement for disability allowance.
2.10.140 Survivor's benefits.
2.10.144 Payment of accumulated contributions or retirement allowance upon death—Election.
2.10.146 Election of option for payment of retirement or disability allowance—Retirement allowance adjustment.
2.10.155 Suspension of retirement allowance upon employment—Exceptions—Reinstatement—Pro tempore service.
2.10.165 Refund of certain contributions.
2.10.170 Cost of living adjustment.
2.10.180 Benefits exempt from taxation and judicial process—Exceptions—Deductions for group insurance premiums.
2.10.190 Hearing prior to judicial review—Required—Notice.
2.10.200 Hearing prior to judicial review—Conduct.
2.10.210 Hearing prior to judicial review—No bond required.
2.10.220 Transfer to system—Prior service credit.
2.10.230 Cessation of benefits upon appointment or election to court.
2.10.900 Construction—Domestic relations terms—2009 c 521.
RCW 2.10.010
This chapter shall be known and cited as the Washington Judicial Retirement System Act.
[ 1971 ex.s. c 267 § 1.]
RCW 2.10.020
The purpose of this chapter is to effect a system of retirement from active service.
[ 1971 ex.s. c 267 § 2.]
RCW 2.10.040
System created—Coverage—Exclusions.
The Washington judicial retirement system is hereby created for judges appointed or elected under the provisions of chapters 2.04, 2.06, and 2.08 RCW. All judges first appointed or elected to the courts covered by these chapters on or after August 9, 1971, and prior to July 1, 1988, shall be members of this system: PROVIDED, That following February 23, 1984, and until July 1, 1988, any newly elected or appointed judge holding credit toward retirement benefits under chapter 41.40 RCW shall be allowed thirty days from the effective date of election or appointment to such judgeship to make an irrevocable choice filed in writing with the department of retirement systems to continue coverage under that chapter and to be permanently excluded from coverage under this chapter for the current or any future term as a judge. All judges first appointed or elected to the courts covered by these chapters on or after July 1, 1988, shall not be members of this system, but may become members of the public employees' retirement system under chapter 41.40 RCW on the same basis as other elected officials as provided in RCW 41.40.023(3).
Any member of the retirement system who is serving as a judge as of July 1, 1988, has the option on or before December 31, 1989, of becoming a member of the retirement system created in chapter 41.40 RCW, subject to the conditions imposed by RCW 41.40.095. The option may be exercised by making an irrevocable choice filed in writing with the department of retirement systems to be permanently excluded from this system for all service as a judge. In the case of a former member of the retirement system who is not serving as a judge on July 1, 1988, the written election must be filed within one year after reentering service as a judge.
[ 1988 c 109 § 2; 1984 c 37 § 1; 1971 ex.s. c 267 § 4.]
Transfers to system, prior service credit: RCW 2.10.220.
RCW 2.10.052
Retirement board abolished—Transfer of powers, duties, and functions.
The Washington judicial retirement board established by this chapter is abolished. All powers, duties, and functions of the board are transferred to the director of retirement systems.
[ 1982 c 163 § 1.]
Severability—1982 c 163: "If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected." [ 1982 c 163 § 24.]
Effective date—1982 c 163: "This act shall take effect June 30, 1982." [ 1982 c 163 § 25.]
RCW 2.10.070
Retirement board—Duties.
The retirement board shall perform the following duties:
(2) As of July 1st of every even-numbered year have an actuarial evaluation made as to the mortality and service experience of the beneficiaries under this chapter and the various accounts created for the purpose of showing the financial status of the retirement fund;
(4) Keep a record of its proceedings, which shall be open to inspection by the public;
(5) Serve without compensation but shall be reimbursed for expense incident to service as individual members thereof;
(6) From time to time adopt such rules and regulations not inconsistent with this chapter for the administration of this chapter and for the transaction of the business of the board.
No member of the board shall be liable for the negligence, default, or failure of any employee or of any member of the board to perform the duties of his or her office and no member of the board shall be considered or held to be an insurer of the funds or assets of the retirement system, but shall be liable only for his or her own personal default or individual failure to perform his or her duties as such member and to exercise reasonable diligence in providing for safeguarding of the funds and assets of the system.
[ 2011 c 336 § 22; 1971 ex.s. c 267 § 7.]
RCW 2.10.090
The total liability, as determined by the actuary, of this system shall be funded as follows:
(1) Every judge shall have deducted from his or her monthly salary an amount equal to seven and one-half percent of said salary.
(2) The state as employer shall contribute an equal amount on a quarterly basis.
(3) The state shall in addition guarantee the solvency of said fund and the legislature shall make biennial appropriations from the general fund of amounts sufficient to guarantee the making of retirement payments as herein provided for if the money in the judicial retirement fund shall become insufficient for that purpose, but such biennial appropriation may be conditioned that sums appropriated may not be expended unless the money in the judicial retirement fund shall become insufficient to meet the retirement payments.
[ 2011 c 336 § 23; 1971 ex.s. c 267 § 9.]
RCW 2.10.110
Service retirement allowance.
A member upon retirement for service shall receive a monthly retirement allowance computed according to his or her completed years of service, as follows: Ten years, but less than fifteen years, three percent of his or her final average salary for each year of service; fifteen years and over, three and one-half percent of his or her final average salary for each year of service: PROVIDED, That in no case shall any retired member receive more than seventy-five percent of his or her final salary except as increased as a result of the cost of living increases as provided by this chapter.
[ 2011 c 336 § 24; 1971 ex.s. c 267 § 11.]
RCW 2.10.120
Retirement for disability—Procedure.
(1) Any judge who has served as a judge for a period of ten or more years, and who shall believe he or she has become physically or otherwise permanently incapacitated for the full and efficient performance of the duties of his or her office, may file with the retirement board an application in writing, asking for retirement. Upon receipt of such application the retirement board shall appoint one or more physicians of skill and repute, duly licensed to practice their professions in the state of Washington, who shall, within fifteen days thereafter, for such compensation as may be fixed by the board, to be paid out of the fund herein created, examine said judge and report in writing to the board their findings in the matter. If the physicians appointed by the board find the judge to be so disabled and the retirement board concurs in this finding the judge shall be retired.
(2) The retirement for disability of a judge, who has served as a judge for a period of ten or more years, by the supreme court under Article IV, section 31 of the Constitution of the state of Washington (House Joint Resolution No. 37, approved by the voters November 4, 1980), with the concurrence of the retirement board, shall be considered a retirement under subsection (1) of this section.
[ 2011 c 336 § 25; 1982 c 18 § 1; 1971 ex.s. c 267 § 12.]
RCW 2.10.130
Retirement for disability allowance.
Upon a judge being retired for disability as provided in RCW 2.10.120, he or she shall receive from the fund an amount equal to one-half of his or her final average salary.
[ 2011 c 336 § 26; 1971 ex.s. c 267 § 13.]
Payment of accumulated contributions or retirement allowance upon death—Election.
(1) If a judge dies before the date of retirement, the amount of the accumulated contributions standing to the judge's credit at the time of death shall be paid to the member's estate, or such person or persons, trust, or organization as the judge has nominated by written designation duly executed and filed with the department of retirement systems. If there is no such designated person or persons still living at the time of the judge's death, or if the judge fails to file a new beneficiary designation subsequent to marriage, remarriage, dissolution of marriage, divorce, or reestablishment of membership following termination by withdrawal or retirement, the judge's credited accumulated contributions shall be paid to the surviving spouse as if in fact the spouse had been nominated by written designation or, if there is no such surviving spouse, then to the judge's legal representatives.
(2) Upon the death in service of any judge who is qualified but has not applied for a service retirement allowance or has completed ten years of service at the time of death, the designated beneficiary, or the surviving spouse as provided in subsection (1) of this section, may elect to waive the payment provided by subsection (1) of this section. Upon such an election, a joint and one hundred percent survivor option under RCW 2.10.146 shall automatically be given effect as if selected for the benefit of the surviving spouse or dependent who is the designated beneficiary, except that if the judge is not then qualified for a service retirement allowance, the option II benefit shall be based upon the actuarial equivalent of the sum necessary to pay the accrued regular retirement allowance commencing when the deceased judge would have first qualified for a service retirement allowance. However, subsection (1) of this section, unless elected, shall not apply to any judge who has applied for a service retirement and thereafter dies between the date of separation from service and the judge's effective retirement date, where the judge has selected a survivorship option under RCW 2.10.146(1)(b). In those cases, the beneficiary named in the judge's final application for service retirement may elect to receive either a cash refund or monthly payments according to the option selected by the judge.
[ 1995 c 144 § 20; 1990 c 249 § 13; 1988 c 109 § 8.]
RCW 2.10.155
Suspension of retirement allowance upon employment—Exceptions—Reinstatement—Pro tempore service.
(1) No judge shall be eligible to receive the judge's monthly service or disability retirement allowance if the retired judge is employed:
(a) For more than eight hundred ten hours in a calendar year as a pro tempore judge; or
(b) In an eligible position as defined in RCW 41.40.010 or 41.32.010, or as a law enforcement officer or firefighter as defined in RCW 41.26.030.
(2) Subsection (1) of this section notwithstanding, a previously elected judge of the superior court who retired before June 7, 1990, leaving a pending case in which the judge had made discretionary rulings may hear the pending case as a judge pro tempore without having his or her retirement allowance suspended.
(3) If a retired judge's benefits have been suspended under this section, his or her benefits shall be reinstated when the retiree terminates the employment that caused his or her benefits to be suspended. Upon reinstatement, the retired judge's benefits shall be actuarially recomputed pursuant to the rules adopted by the department.
(4) The department shall adopt rules implementing this section.
[ 1990 c 274 § 14; 1988 c 109 § 10.]
Application—Reservation—1990 c 274 §§ 11, 12, 14, and 15: See note following RCW 41.40.690.
[ 1991 c 159 § 1.]
Effective July 1, 1972, and of each succeeding year, every retirement allowance which has been in effect for one year or more shall be adjusted to that dollar amount which bears the ratio to its original dollar amount which the retirement board finds to exist between the index for the previous calendar year and the index for the calendar year prior to the date the retirement allowance became payable: PROVIDED, That the amount of increase or decrease in any one year shall not exceed three percent of the then payable retirement allowance: AND PROVIDED FURTHER, That this cost of living adjustment shall not reduce any pension below that amount which was payable at time of retirement.
[ 1971 ex.s. c 267 § 17.]
RCW 2.10.180
(1) Except as provided in subsections (2), (3), and (4) of this section, the right of a person to a retirement allowance, disability allowance, or death benefit, the retirement, disability or death allowance itself, any optional benefit, any other right accrued or accruing to any person under the provisions of this chapter, and the moneys in the fund created under this chapter, are hereby exempt from any state, county, municipal, or other local tax and shall not be subject to execution, garnishment, or any other process of law whatsoever whether the same be in actual possession of the person or be deposited or loaned.
[ 2012 c 159 § 17; 1991 c 365 § 18; 1989 c 360 § 22; 1987 c 326 § 17; 1982 1st ex.s. c 52 § 1; 1979 ex.s. c 205 § 1; 1971 ex.s. c 267 § 18.]
Effective dates—1982 1st ex.s. c 52: "(1) Sections 9 and 34 of this act are necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety, the support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect immediately.
(2) The remainder of this act shall take effect July 1, 1982." [ 1982 1st ex.s. c 52 § 37.]
RCW 2.10.190
Hearing prior to judicial review—Required—Notice.
Any person aggrieved by any final decision of the retirement board must, before petitioning for judicial review, file with the director of the retirement system by mail or personally within sixty days from the day such decision was communicated to such person, a notice for a hearing before the retirement board. The notice of hearing shall set forth in full detail the grounds upon which such person considers such decision unjust or unlawful and shall include every issue to be considered by the retirement board, and it must contain a detailed statement of facts upon which such person relies in support thereof. Such persons shall be deemed to have waived all objections or irregularities concerning the matter on which such appeal is taken other than those records of the retirement system.
[ 1971 ex.s. c 267 § 19.]
RCW 2.10.200
Hearing prior to judicial review—Conduct.
A hearing shall be held by the department of retirement systems, or an authorized representative, in the county of the residence of the claimant at a time and place designated by the director. Such hearings shall be de novo and shall conform to the provisions of chapter 34.05 RCW. The retirement system may appear in all such proceedings and introduce testimony in support of the decision. Judicial review of any final decision by the director is governed by the provisions of chapter 34.05 RCW.
[ 1989 c 175 § 37; 1971 ex.s. c 267 § 20.]
RCW 2.10.210
Hearing prior to judicial review—No bond required.
No bond of any kind shall be required of a claimant appealing to the superior court, the court of appeals, or the supreme court from a finding of the retirement board affecting such claimant's right to retirement or disability benefits.
[ 1971 ex.s. c 267 § 21.]
RCW 2.10.230
Cessation of benefits upon appointment or election to court.
Any person receiving retirement benefits from this system who is appointed or elected to a court under chapter 2.04, 2.06, or 2.08 RCW shall upon the first day of entering such office become a member of this system and his or her retirement benefits shall cease. Pro tempore service as a judge of a court of record shall not constitute appointment as that term is used in this section. Upon leaving such office, a person shall have his or her benefits recomputed or restored, as determined in this chapter: PROVIDED, That no such person shall receive a benefit less than that which was being paid at the time his or her benefit ceased.
[ 1988 c 109 § 4.]
RCW 2.10.900
Construction—Domestic relations terms—2009 c 521.
[ 2009 c 521 § 5.]
Effective dates—2009 c 521 §§ 5-8, 79, 87-103, 107, 151, 165, 166, 173-175, and 190-192: "(1) Sections 5 through 8, 79, 87 through 103, 107, 151, 173 through 175, and 190 through 192 of this act take effect January 1, 2014.
(2) Sections 165 and 166 of this act take effect August 1, 2009." [ 2009 c 521 § 201.]