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Senate Bill 5357 and Your Retirement

Patrick Sugrue
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Key takeaway: There are no changes to your retirement benefits, when you can retire, or your final pension calculation

The Employment Security Department sent out an email to at least some state employees with information about the July 1 changes to the two of the retirement pensions available to public employees in Washington: PERS 1 and PERS 2.

Changes to PERS Plan 1

  • The employee contribution rate will remain unchanged at 6.00%.
  • The employer contribution rate will decrease from 9.11% to 5.58%.

Changes to PERS Plan 2

  • The employee contribution rate will decrease from 6.36% to 5.38%.
  • The employer contribution rate will decrease from 9.11% to 5.58%.

More agencies may be planning to communicate the changes as a result of Senate Bill 5357, which was passed during this last legislative session, without adequate detail or explanation, so here's some information you can share with fellow union members and coworkers.

Here are the facts

  • It doesn’t change your retirement benefits
  • It doesn't change when you can retire
  • It doesn't change your final pension calculation

The reduction in employer contributions assume a higher rate of return from plan investments.

Here's a guide to the changes. They were proposed by Governor Inslee in their original form and requested by OFM this session.

WFSE's Monitoring of SB 5397

WFSE's Legislative and Political Action Team knew about SB 5397 and watched it closely throughout the 2025 legislative session. We met with legislative budget writers and OFM. This bill stretches out the timeline for repaying certain past obligations and should not impact the fiscal integrity of our current pension plans.

The employer and the employee both pay equal percentages into the pension plans, so this change will reduce payments for everybody.  Members will have a couple of more bucks in their pocket — along with the pay raises — and employers save a little money as well (relatively).

The one caveat is pension funding is always based on projections made by actuaries, who specialize in projections but cannot predict the future. As such, pension rates will always need to be adjusted periodically, and we'll be keeping an eye on it.

We follow pension issues very closely, and we will always fight to make sure our pension plans are strong and stable.  

How WFSE protects retirement

Per Washington state's collective bargaining law, 41.80, public sector unions cannot bargain over retirement plans or benefits, but we do consistently monitor employee pensions and fight in the legislature when needed to protect them.

Through lobbying and legislative action, our union has stopped repeated attacks on pensions and retirement security for public employees.

  • The proposal to raise retirement age by from 65 to 67 (SB 5982) DEFEATED
  • A proposal for 401K’s only for new hires, which would have harmed the financial viability of the entire pension system (ESSB 5851) DEFEATED
  • The proposal to cut contributions to the pension system (SB 6005) DEFEATED.
  • The “Pension Spiking” bill that would have attacked legitimate use of overtime (SSB 5916) DEFEATED

Additionally, WFSE President Mike Yestramski is one of 12 representatives on the Washington State Select Committee on Pension Policy, which studies issues and policies affecting the state's public employee retirement systems and makes recommendations to the Legislature and the Pension Funding Council regarding changes.

Mike was recently elected by the committee to be one of the five on the pension plan executive committee.