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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2017 - 2018
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | April 9, 2018 03:17 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Brad Roae |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Amending the PA Constitution to Prohibit Enrolling New Employees into the PSERS and SERS Pension Plans |
| In the near future, I will introduce legislation to amend the PA Constitution to prohibit enrolling new employees into the PSERS and SERS pension plans. There will be no change for current employees and retirees. New employees would join the defined contribution retirement plan that is currently one of three options available for new employees with the most recent pension law change. No new retirement plan would be created by this amendment. There would be exceptions for the following: New employees who are not covered by social security would be enrolled in the pension plan if they wished. Employees with a separation in service such as returning to work after a maternity leave or after recovering from a disability, accident or injury would be enrolled in the pension plan if they wished. Employees who were fired but reinstated by a court of law would be enrolled in the pension plan if they wished. Elected officials who leave office and then after a gap return to office again would NOT be given an exception. They would be enrolled in the same defined contribution retirement plan as all other new employees. Constitutional amendments do not go to the governor for approval. They go to the voters for approval. The governor cannot veto this amendment like he did the pension reform bill in 2016. Ninety-nine percent of employers in Pennsylvania do not put new employees in defined benefit pension plans. The public would probably vote yes since defined benefit retirement plans seem to be how things are done in this century. Future financial risk for taxpayers would be one-hundred percent eliminated since by definition, defined contribution retirement plans are automatically fully funded in terms of required employer contributions each pay period. The costs are essentially one-hundred percent predictable. Regardless of the performance of the financial markets, nothing other than the percentage of payroll required in the plan needs to be paid. Everything that must be paid will be paid each pay period. I would greatly appreciate your support of this proposed legislation. Thank you very much for your consideration. |
Memo Updated: April 9, 2018 03:18 PM