This bill amends existing law (RCW 41.26.555) governing LEOFF plan 2 to define a one-time lump sum defined benefit option and to specify who can choose it instead of the existing tiered multiplier benefit. The lump sum is set at $100 per service credit month (with certain greater-amount exceptions referenced in the text). Any member who receives that lump sum is not eligible for the tiered multiplier benefit, and the lump sum is exempt from judicial process and from taxes under RCW 41.26.053. Members who have received a refund of contributions under RCW 41.26.540 are not eligible for the lump sum benefit. The amendment creates a new benefit option and imposes procedural choices and deadlines: members retired before February 1, 2021, will receive the lump sum payable by January 31, 2023; members active after January 31, 2021, and members who were inactive on February 1, 2021 or retired on that date but later returned to membership, must make an irrevocable choice at retirement between the tiered multiplier and the one-time lump sum. The text cites several related RCWs (41.26.420(3), 41.26.470, 41.26.048, 41.26.460, 41.26.540, and 41.26.053) but those provisions are not reproduced here, and some date-editing language in the extract is unclear without the broader bill context.

If enacted, the bill will give people in the LEOFF Plan 2 pension system a real cash option: people who were already retired before February 1, 2021 will receive a one-time payment of $100 per month of service by January 31, 2023, and others who are active after January 31, 2021 or who returned to membership after being inactive on February 1, 2021 will have to choose at retirement between that one-time $100-per-service-month payment or the existing tiered multiplier pension. Anyone who takes the lump sum cannot later take the tiered multiplier, those who previously took a refund are barred from the lump sum, and the lump sum is protected from court judgments and state income tax under the cited statute. The people most affected are LEOFF Plan 2 members near retirement and the pension administrators who must process payments and record irrevocable choices; retirees who take the lump sum get immediate, taxand judgment-protected cash but give up the tiered multiplier’s ongoing benefit, which changes their income stability and estate/survivor outcomes. The bill creates a near-term cash obligation for the retirement system (the January 31, 2023 deadline for pre-February 2021 retirees) and shifts actuarial risk depending on how many choose the lump sum, but the text provided does not include the full tiered multiplier details or actuarial estimates, so the overall fiscal impact and members’ long-term income comparisons cannot be determined from these excerpts alone.