Several important bills impacting city employee pensions are still alive and needing final action as we the reconciliation period where the House and Senate try to work out final versions of bills ahead of sine die on April 23.

Bills passed the Legislature

911 operators to PSERS

HB 1055 expands eligibility for PSERS membership and gives current public safety telecommunicators (like 911 operators) the option to remain in PERS or join PSERS 2 as a dual member of PERS and PSERS. New public safety telecommunicators will automatically be enrolled in PSERS. The bill passed the Senate unanimously on April 12 with no changes. It now goes to the Governor desk.

Military service credit

HB 1007 expand the definition of “veteran” to include those receiving an expeditionary badge for participation in an armed conflict, for the purposes of civil service laws and military service credit in public sector pensions. Interruptive military service is where an employee is called away from work for military service, and a service credit gives “veterans’” pensions credit for their time away in military service. The bill has passed the Legislature and is at the Governor’s desk.

Bills still needing agreement between the House and Senate

Ad hoc PERS 1 COLA

SB 5350 authorize a one-time, ad hoc 3% cost-of-living-adjustment for PERS 1 retirees, capped at $110 per month. The bill directs the Select Committee on Pension Policy to study and recommend a permanent plan 1 COLA. It was amended in the House to delay the impact of the COLA on contribution rates until 2027 and specify that supplemental contribution rates won’t be charged to pay for the COLA. The Senate refused to concur in the House amendments on April 13 and asked the House to recede.

UAAL sunset

SB 5294 replaces the current unfunded actuarily accrued liability surcharge (3.85%) with a gradually reduced UAAL schedule that reduces the UAAL each year until 2027 and sets a new minimum 0.5% UAAL that only kicks in when the PERS 1 account is less than fully funded. The House amended the bill to extend the scheduled UAAL an additional year to 2028 before setting a new minimum rate of 0.25% that only kicked in when the PERS 1 account was not fully funded. The Senate refused to concur in the House’s amendments on April 13, and asked the House to recede.

Retire/Rehire

HB 1056 permits PERS 2 & 3 retirees that retired under the 2008 early retirement factors to return to public employment as an employee or contractor for up to 867 hours per year without losing retirement benefits. It was voted out of the House on February 6 with a unanimous vote. It was voted unanimously out of the Senate on April 12, but with some amendments that remove the balancing recalculation of benefits for those retiring under a different set of early retirement factors that had a higher benefit reduction but allowed return to work. The House still has the concur in the Senate amendments.