Department of Retirement Systems details modernization plan, call‑time improvements and deepens deferred‑compensation enrollment
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Summary
DRS Director Catherine Leathers presented membership and fiscal numbers, reported improvements in call wait times after recent hiring, updates on cybersecurity and the CorePAM modernization project (go‑live targeted for September 2027).
Catherine Leathers, director of the Department of Retirement Systems, told the committee DRS administers eight pension systems covering 15 plans and nearly 1,000,000 member accounts. She reported FY2025 contributions of about $5.6 billion and benefit payments of roughly $8.9 billion and said roughly one in nine Washingtonians has a relationship with DRS.
Leathers highlighted the Department’s Deferred Compensation Program (DCP): since automatic enrollment began for newly hired state and higher‑education employees in 2017, 'more than 70,000 people have been auto enrolled in DCP, and 88% of those folks have stuck with the program.' She said the average percentage contribution among participants is 4.78% of salary and that fixed‑dollar contributors average $777 per month.
On customer service, Leathers credited recent legislative funding for hiring retirement specialists and reported average call hold times have come down to approximately 2 minutes and 2 seconds; the department’s goal remains under two minutes. She described hiring and training timelines: new retirement specialists spend about six months in classroom training and additional months in specialized units before answering member calls independently.
Leathers described completed cybersecurity enhancements with LexisNexis that now provide live event risk data to block high‑risk events, and she outlined the CorePAM (pension administration modernization) project that will replace a legacy system deployed in 1992. She said the CorePAM project recently entered its third year and DRS currently plans to go live around September 2027. Leathers told members the CorePAM project has run under budget to date and staff will request remaining funds in the 2027‑29 biennial budget process to complete later phases (customer and employer portals).
Committee members pressed Leathers on whether CorePAM costs are charged to the trust funds; she confirmed the project costs are administrative charges paid from the trust fund rather than the general fund. Members also asked about inactive accounts and the department’s efforts to locate members; Leathers said staff are actively working to find people who are owed benefits and can provide exact totals on inactive account values on request.
