Senator Kim Elton introduced SB 23 which would reverse action taken by the Legislature in 2005 under SB 141. Prior to SB 141, Alaska’s teachers and municipal and state employees participated in a defined benefit pension plan. Since most of Alaska’s public employees do not participate in Social Security, it was critical that they have a defined benefit that could not be outlived. SB 141 changed the system to a defined contribution plan. It is possible to outlive your contributions and, without Social Security, some retirees would find themselves with no income. NEA, the AFL-CIO, and all the public employee unions and municipal police and firefighter organizations are backing SB 23 to return to the defined benefit program of Tier III under PERS and Tier II under TRS. AARP, the Alaska Retired Educators Association, and the Retired Public Employees Association are all supporting SB 23. At this time, 8 additional Senators have signed on as co-sponsors, 6 Democrats and 2 Republicans (Ellis, French, Wielechowski, Menard, Paskvan, McGuire, Thomas, and Davis). (2/27/09) SB 23 passed out of L&C and has been referred to State Affairs.
There are two companion bills to SB 23 that have been introduced in the House. HB 30, co-authored by Representatives John Harris, Mike Hawker, and Cathy Munoz, is the vehicle we expect to move through the committees since it is co-authored by three majority Republicans. It is co-sponsored by 5 Democrats and 2 Republicans (Kawasaki, Guttenberg, Gara, Lynn, Dahlstrom, Kerttula, and Herron). It will be heard first in House Labor and Commerce. A hearing has been requested but no date has been set yet.
Members of the House Labor and Commerce Committee are:
Kurt Olson, Chair 1-800-463-2693 Representative_Kurt_Olson@legis.state.ak.us
Mark Neuman V-Chair 1-800-505-2678Representative_Mark_Neuman@legis.state.ak.us
Mike Chenault 1-800-469-3779 Representative_Mike_Chenault@legis.state.ak.us
John Coghill 1-877-465-3719 Representative_John_Coghill@legis.state.ak.us
Bob Lynn 1-800-870-4931 Representative_Bob_Lynn@legis.state.ak.us
Bob Buch 1-800-773-4968 Representative_Bob_Buch@legis.state.ak..us
Lindsey Holmes 1-888-465-4919 Representative_Lindsey_Holmes@legis.state.ak.us
At this time, we know that Representatives Lynn, Buch, and Holmes are all in support.
Representatives Olson, Neuman, Chenault and Coghill should all be contacted and encouraged to support the bill when it is scheduled before their Committee. Chairman Olson should be encouraged to schedule the hearing as soon as possible.
Another bill, HB 54, was also pre-filed. It is identical to HB 30. It is co-authored by 7 Democratic members of the House (Tuck, Crawford, Buch, Cissna, Gara, Holmes, and Peterson). Co-sponsors include 2 Republicans and 2 Democrats (Harris, Dahlstrom, Kerttula, and Gruenberg). We do not expect it to be the bill that moves. We presume that these legislators will sign on to HB 30 (four already are).
