Source: Alaskan Culture Daily
This week, the Legislature passed House Bill 78 to establish a pension retirement plan for public employees. The Senate Judiciary Committee also passed a consolidated crime bill that includes legislative priorities to improve public safety. Yesterday, the Governor vetoed the elections bill.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the House and Senate passed House Bill 78 to establish a defined benefit, pension retirement plan. HB 78 is bipartisan legislation that will create a new pension system for public employees and teachers and provide an option for current public employees to convert their defined compensation plan to a defined benefit plan. The new program is substantially different from the state’s prior pension retirement. Actuarial analysis shows that the program is now affordable, particularly when including the cost of training new employees related to the higher turnover without a pension retirement option.