Senate Bill 5718 adds new sections to chapter 41.32 RCW and chapter 41.35 RCW (both under the "plan 3" subchapter) to create a new, irrevocable membership choice allowing certain plan 3 members to transfer for future service. For teachers' retirement system plan 3 (chapter 41.32 RCW) the bill allows members who joined between July 1, 1996, and June 30, 2007, and who were never offered a choice between plan 2 and plan 3, to transfer to plan 2 during any January after the effective date of the section, provided the member earns service credit for that January. For school employees' retirement system plan 3 (chapter 41.35 RCW) the bill contains a similar provision for members who joined between September 1, 2000, and June 30, 2007, allowing an irrevocable choice during any January after the section’s effective date for future service; both new sections bar anyone previously retired from plan 3 from transferring to plan 2 and reserve the legislature’s right to modify or discontinue the transfer right. The bill also creates a suspension mechanism: Section 3 suspends the transfer choice under the act if the state receives an IRS determination letter or other formal IRS guidance finding the options conflict with federal law, and the suspension remains until subsequent IRS guidance resolves the conflict. The text contains some unclear or possibly inconsistent references: Section 2’s wording says members may choose "to transfer to plan 3," which appears inconsistent with the bill’s transfer-to-plan-2 purpose, Section 3 refers to suspension of transfers "under sections 2 and 3 of this act" (which could be a misreference), and no effective date is stated in the provided text. This is a statutory procedural change to retirement membership options accomplished by creating new law sections; it does not create a new crime or alter penalties. Important implementation details are missing from the extracted text: the effective date is not provided, the bill does not specify the administrative procedure for making the irrevocable choice, which agency will administer transfers or receive IRS determinations, or how service credit and membership records are adjusted. The bill was introduced as S-0650.1 / Senate Bill 5718, read first on 02/10/25, and referred to the Committee on Ways & Means.

If enacted, the bill would give a narrow group of current plan 3 members—teachers who joined between July 1, 1996 and June 30, 2007 and school employees who joined between September 1, 2000 and June 30, 2007, and who were never offered a plan 2/3 choice—the one-time option to irrevocably switch how their future service is treated by moving to plan 2 during any January after the law takes effect (teachers must earn service credit that month). People already retired from plan 3 could not do this, the legislature can later change or end the option, and the state would stop allowing transfers if the IRS issues guidance saying the option conflicts with federal law. The people most affected are those eligible plan 3 members who gain a new choice about how their future retirement benefits will be calculated, which could change individual retirement outcomes and shift long‑term pension costs between plans and to the state; employers and pension administrators will face new administrative work to process and record irrevocable January choices. Important details are missing from the bill text provided — the effective date, clarification of an apparent wording error in one section, which agency implements the transfers, and the exact procedures — so the timing, administrative costs, and the scope of financial impact remain uncertain.