Excerpt:
The high drama might be over for a while, but pension reform remains a high priority in the Legislature.
This week, the House Government Operations Committee is considering a new draft proposal to expand the membership of the Vermont Pension Investment Committee (VPIC) and establish a task force to study possible solutions to the state’s thorny unfunded pension liability problem.
This is the other shoe from House leadership’s decision two weeks ago, under pressure from state employee unions, to focus on governance now and study the solutions to unfunded liability over the summer. The unions had widely panned the initial proposal for reform as forcing them to work longer, pay more, and get less.
That liability is estimated at $5.6 billion, with about $3 billion in pension benefits and another $2.6 billion in health and other benefits for retirees.
As a committee draft proposal, it doesn’t have a bill name. That makes finding it on the relevant committee page a little more challenging. In this case, if you go to the documents tab on the Government Operations page there’s a “pensions” folder. Click on that, and on “bills,” and there you will find “21-0967 — An act relating to the membership and duties of the Vermont Pension Investment Committee and the creation of the Pension Design and Funding Task Force.”
Author(s): Greg Sukiennik
Publication Date: 11 April 2021
Publication Site: Brattleboro Reformer