Engrossed House Bill 2179 (69th Legislature, 2026 Regular Session) amends RCW 41.40.023 and creates a new section to clarify public employees' retirement system (PERS) membership rules for port district employees who participate in the federal railroad retirement system, union‑sponsored defined benefit plans (including Taft‑Hartley plans), or other employer‑funded private pension plans. The bill states the legislature’s intent that an employee should not receive retirement service credit in more than one defined benefit plan for the same period and that an employer should not be required to make retirement contributions to more than one plan for the same employee and period. It also clarifies a port district’s authority under RCW 53.08.170 to contribute to a private defined benefit pension plan and confirms that port employees covered by a private Taft‑Hartley defined benefit plan while employed on or after January 1, 1965, are exempt from PERS for the periods covered by that plan. The changes modify existing law (an amendment to RCW 41.40.023) and add a new statutory section. The reproduced statutory language and related provisions address membership exclusions and procedural rules: a 30‑day option to apply for membership for certain chief administrative appointees; past deadlines and refund procedures for persons serving as of April 4, 1986, and July 25, 1999; a payment requirement under RCW 41.50.165(2) for late membership elections; inclusion conditions for state‑approved apprentices and certain housing authority training positions; references to employees removed under other RCW provisions; special treatment for the state director of fire protection and certain law enforcement/firefighter members; inclusion criteria for certain part‑time bus drivers hired on or after June 6, 2024 who are also federal employees; and explicit inclusion of port district employees who are participants in the federal railroad retirement plan. Section 2 of the act is identified as effective January 1, 2027. The extracted materials do not include the full text of the new section, the complete amended statutory language beyond the material reproduced, or the act’s overall effective date language, so the precise statutory edits and the full effective date scheme cannot be confirmed from these facts alone.

If enacted, the law would stop port district employees from getting PERS service credit and stop port districts from having to pay into PERS for the same periods those workers are covered by the federal railroad retirement system or by a private/union-defined benefit pension plan, and it affirms that ports can contribute to private defined benefit plans. Practically, port districts could see lower PERS contribution obligations for those overlapping service periods, PERS would have fewer covered employees for those times, and affected workers would not receive duplicate retirement credit — some workers will need to use existing short election windows or seek contribution refunds under current rules if they change enrollment status. The people most affected are port district employers and employees who participate in the federal railroad retirement system or Taft‑Hartley/union-sponsored or other employer-funded private pension plans; PERS administrators are also affected by reduced coverage and contribution tracking for those periods. The provided text does not include the full new section or the bill’s overall effective date, so exact timing and any implementation details are unclear.