Pennsylvania legislature takes on pension changes for future workers

[TexasTowelie]

HARRISBURG - With only one voting day left before it breaks for the election, the Republican-controlled legislature worked late into the night Tuesday to position a bill that attempts to deal with the rapidly rising cost of public employee pensions.

If both legislative chambers approve the plan Wednesday and Gov. Wolf signs it, it would end what has been a years-long struggle to strike a compromise on one of the most divisive policy issues in the Capitol - one that has threatened to derail budget talks in recent years.

The measure the House and Senate will consider Wednesday would change the retirement benefits for future state and public school workers.

Starting in 2018, those new employees would choose from three new benefit plans, all of which would require varying levels of participation in a 401(k)-style plan.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20161026_Legislature_takes_on_pension_reform.html

[femmocrat]

1. This is only on teachers. Thanks, Wolf.

State police, corrections, and some other law enforcement officers would be exempt under the proposed changes.

Nothing in the article about other state employees.

[DeminPennswoods]

2. All state workers except those noted

From the Post-Gazette:

Among the biggest items on legislative agenda today were planned votes in both chambers on an eleventh-hour bill to change pension benefits for new state and public school employees.

The proposal calls for new employees to select from three pension options, all of which would require they participate in varying levels of 401(k)-style plans. Current employees would not be impacted, and would continue to be eligible for the traditional, and more generous, plan that calculates their benefits based on their years of service and top three years of salary.

State Police and other law enforcement officials would be exempt from the new proposal.

The pension reform plan does not have any short-term savings, but is estimated to save the state and school districts $2.6 billion over 32 years.

2.6B sounds like a lot until you do the arithmetic. That's 2.6B/32yrs=81.25M/yr. 81.25M/501 school districts = $162,175/school district/yr. A paltry sum and THAT's assuming 100% of the savings go to the school districts.

[DeminPennswoods]

3. pension bill fails

Post-Gazette: http://www.post-gazette.com/early-returns/erstate/2016/10/26/Pa-legislature-meets-for-likely-last-day-of-its-session/stories/201610260212

“This governor provided zero (Dem votes) — to me that’s unprecedented, if he truly wanted it,” Corman said.

House Majority Leader Dave Reed (R., Indiana) said the chamber was three votes shy of getting the 102 votes needed to approve it, and that all the support came from the GOP.

For his part, Wolf, a Democrat, has said he would support a “reasonable” pension reform plan, but never committed to the specific one the legislature was considering this week. ...

State police and other law enforcement officials would have been exempt from the proposal, as would have been current legislators and judges. The proposed change would have applied only to newly elected legislators and judges.

FTR, the GOP holds 119 (of 203) seats in the state house and got only 99 (-20) to vote for pension reform. Pointless to blame Gov Wolf when the Rs had more than enough votes to pass the bill.

Further, none of the current Republican legislators were willing to contribute their pensions to the cause of pension reform.