Retired Public Employees Council of WA Working to protect and enhance the pension and health care benefits of Washington retired state, county and local government employees
RPEC Weekly NewsFlash, January 12, 2024
URGENT – Sign In PRO Today on HB 1985 & HB 2188
We urgently need your help! On Monday, January 15, two of RPEC’s most important bills are having public hearings in the Appropriations Committee:
- House Bill 1985: Provides a one-time 3% COLA to PERS 1 and TRS 1 retirees not to exceed $125 per month.
- House Bill 2188: Reduces PEBB health care costs by increasing the PEBB Medicare Explicit Subsidy rate from 50% to 60%.
We need ALL RPEC members to register PRO positions on both bills on the Legislature’s website before 3:00 PM on Monday, January 15. Completing this task is quick and easy.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Click here to go to the Legislature’s website.
- You will be prompted to state your position. Click the drop-down menu to select “Pro”.
- Provide your first and last name, email address, organization, city, state, zip code, and phone number.
- Under “Organization”, spell out “Retired Public Employees Council of WA”.
- Click the box to indicate that you are not a robot.
- Click “Submit Registration”.
- Click here and repeat steps 2 through 6 for HB 2188.
Please be sure to register support for both bills. Thank you for supporting our legislative priorities. Please feel free to share this message and encourage other Washington residents to register their support for the bills. If you have any questions, please contact RPEC Government Affairs Coordinator Emmett Mills at emmett.mills@rpecwa.org.
RPEC Bill Tracker Now Available
Want to stay up to date on the progress of bills that impact your retirement security? Check out RPEC’s bill tracker! It’s updated every Friday and includes important information on the most significant bills of this legislative session. The tracker allows you to stay up to date on our bills and our work to influence their progress. Click here to view the bill tracker for January 12.
Have questions about any of the bills that RPEC is paying attention to? Please join us on Fridays (beginning this afternoon) at 2:00 PM for RPEC’s weekly Legislative Update Zoom call. Each call includes an update on the progress of RPEC’s priorities and an opportunity for members to ask questions. All members are welcome to participate. The Zoom meeting login information is a standing link for each call. See below:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89045365250?pwd=cHYvbU80d08xTXRLTmpOZGF1VW53QT09
Meeting ID: 890 4536 5250
Passcode: 320296
Dial in: (253) 215-8782
Find Us on Facebook
As we continue to move toward a future where we are more reliant on technology, RPEC has grown its online presence considerably. The RPEC website is a central hub for news, member benefits, resources, and much more. Another means of engaging with the Council Office is through social media, specifically Facebook. Through RPEC’s Facebook page, you can connect with the Council Office directly and regularly. We are continuously looking to increase our presence on Facebook as an easy way for members to stay up to date on RPEC news and communicate with the Council Office. The content we post on Facebook includes progress updates on bills in the legislature, changes to Social Security, Medicare, and pensions, alerting members about scam concerns, sharing information and pictures of members at events, and much more.
You can engage with RPEC through Facebook by commenting or reacting to posts, reaching out via Facebook Messenger, or tagging RPEC in your own posts. To access messenger, navigate to the top of the RPEC Facebook page. Just below the background picture you will see a button labelled as “Message”.
Please take a moment to visit us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RPECWA, and if you haven’t already, “Like” and “Follow” our page.
Upcoming Events:
Please refer to our calendar page for more information for each event, including links to Zoom meetings, if available.
- Jan. 15 – Council Office Closed, Martin Luther King Jr. Day
- Jan. 19 – Legislative Update Call (2:00 pm)
- Jan. 22-26 – Legislative Week, Virtual
- Jan. 25 – Healthcare Workgroup (3:30 pm)
- Jan. 26 – Legislative Update Call (2:00 pm)
- Feb. 1 – Membership Committee Meeting (10:00 am, rescheduled from Jan. 25)
- Feb. 2 – Legislative Update Call (2:00 pm)
- Feb. 8 – Healthcare Workgroup (3:30 pm)
- Feb. 9 – Legislative Committee Meeting (10:00 am)
- Feb. 9 – Legislative Update Call (2:00 pm)
- Feb. 16 – Legislative Update Call (2:00 pm)
