AAUP members who are members of PERS and are considering retirement in the near future should probably pay attention to the movement around two anti-PERS bills in the Senate Committee on Workforce that appear to be gaining traction. If passed in this session, they would be effective immediately.
Those bills are SB 559 and SB 560 . SB 560 is the probable vehicle through which both bills will move.
The amendments under consideration for SB 560 are here.
Here is the staff measure analysis on what the bill does. Here is the analysis of the bills from PERS Coalition attorney Greg Hartman (PSU-AAUP is a member of the PERS Coalition)
A number of members have asked us if this bill is as bad for them as it seems. PSU-AAUP can not give advise to members about their decision to retire or the timing in relation to these bills, but the few members who reached out who are Tier 1 are alarmed over the changes that could be in store for them with these measures. Some have shared they are considering changing their retirement plans.
At this point it is not possible to forecast which of these amendments will pass, and whether or not new amendments will be brought forward.
We also do not know to what extent these changes to the PERS system will become part of any "grand bargain." There is talk that if the legislature seriously wants to pass any revenue or transportation package in this session, additional changes to PERS will have to be part of the package.
Our lobbyist is telling us that the changes everyone is expecting at this point is:
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some cap on final salary, there was not number, but it would be indexed.
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change of final average salary from last 3 years to 5 years.
- capping of the use of unused sick time and vacation time.
We will report as we learn more.