This bill amends RCW 41.26.510 and adds a new section providing retroactive application for certain premium reimbursements. It requires that the retirement allowance paid to a surviving spouse or domestic partner and dependent children of a member ruled “killed in the course of employment” include reimbursement for premium payments to the Washington State Health Care Authority under RCW 41.05.080 and for Medicare Part A and Part B premiums, with eligibility conditioned on enrollment and maintained enrollment in both Medicare parts for those entitled. It also requires reimbursement, from the date of the member’s death until the determination that the death was in the course of employment, for premiums on employer-provided medical insurance, COBRA coverage, and Medicare Part A and Part B; where that reimbursement does not apply the allowance must include reimbursement for other medical insurance premiums up to the amount reimbursed for COBRA-authorized premiums. The amendment also provides that a surviving spouse or domestic partner who became ineligible for industrial insurance payments under RCW 51.32.050 because of remarriage shall receive an amount equal to the benefit they would have received but for the remarriage, applying to benefits suspended or terminated due to remarriage prior to July 24, 2015, and that monthly payments are actuarially reduced for any lump sum previously received under RCW 51.32.050. Legally, the bill modifies existing law (RCW 41.26.510), adds a new retroactivity provision (Section 2) making subsections (5)(b) and (c) applicable to premium payments made after June 10, 2010, and changes procedures and benefit-payment obligations for survivor reimbursements and treatment of remarriage-related ineligibility. The director of the Department of Labor and Industries is referenced as the authority to determine whether a death was “killed in the course of employment,” and the text references multiple other statutes and agencies (including the Washington State Health Care Authority and Medicare) for definitions and computations. Some information needed to fully identify what language is newly inserted versus existing law is missing because the prior version of RCW 41.26.510 is not provided here; several referenced RCWs and definitional provisions are cited but their texts are not included, so precise calculation methods and certain definitions cannot be determined from the provided material.

If enacted, survivors of retirement system members found to be “killed in the course of employment” will be able to get their retirement allowance increased to reimburse certain health insurance premiums – including state health care authority premiums, employer-provided insurance, COBRA, and Medicare Part A and B where the survivor is enrolled. Surviving spouses or domestic partners who lost industrial insurance benefits because they remarried before July 24, 2015 would also receive an amount equal to what they would have gotten but for the remarriage, with monthly payments reduced if they already received a lump sum under the industrial insurance statute. These changes mean the retirement system will likely pay more each month to eligible survivors and must apply actuarial reductions where required. The people most directly affected are surviving spouses, domestic partners, and dependent children (and secondarily employers/COBRA plans and the state health care authority because those premiums may be reimbursed). The Department of Labor and Industries’ determinations about whether a death was work-related remain a gate to benefits, and the retirement system will face administrative and financial duties to process and pay claims. Because the bill makes the premium reimbursement rules retroactive to premiums paid after June 10, 2010 for parts of the new language, there may be retroactive claims dating back to 2010; the extracted text does not show the prior law or any cost estimates, so the size and administrative handling of those retroactive liabilities are unclear.