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PublictoPension Bill Adds Millions Wyoming���s Big Plan L By Dan Neal Equality State Policy Center egislation approved in a compromise achieved in the last week of the Wyoming Legislature���s general session will add more than $34.4 million into the state���s Big Retirement Plan over the next five fiscal years, according to calculations by the Legislative Service Office. The legislation, House Bill 250��� Public employee retirement plans, increases contributions to three public pension plans, including the Big Plan, which covers most state and local workers, such as public school employees, the Highway Patrol-Game WardenDCI Plan, and the Fireman B Plan. Members of the Joint Appropriations Committee sought the increased contributions to improve the funding ratio of the plans. Various public employee associations, including the Wyoming Education Association, questioned the need for the increases, since the Fireman B Plan and the Big Plan have funding ratios that show them to be in excellent health. The case for increasing contributions to the Highway Patrol-Game WardenDCI plan was stronger. The Joint Appropriations Committee did not agree on a method for moving forward with legislation. A proposal to require employees to fully fund 2% increases in contributions to the plans in FY13 and FY14 was rejected. In the first week of the session, the House Appropriations Committee, under Chairman Steve Harshman of Casper, decided to move ahead with its own plan. 18 SPRING 2013 Spring 2013.indd 18 The House version of the bill increased the employee contributions to the plan by 0.5% in FY14, but required employers to pay for the increase. Proponents argued the idea meant the state would actually give employees an increase in pay, but at less cost to the state, since there would be no FICA taxes on the increase. The House version of the bill imposed a second 0.5% increase in contributions to the plan in FY15, all to the employer side of the contribution formula and paid by employers. pay one-fourth. In FY17 and going forward, the employers and employees will again split evenly the 1% increase in contributions. In agreeing to the compromise, the employees fulfilled promises made last year in town hall meetings across the state that they are willing to contribute more to their defined benefit pensions if necessary. But the deal-making lessens the impact on employees in the Big Plan for the first three years. It should be noted that the bill does not affect the Highway Patrol-Game Warden-DCI Plan Once moved to the Senate, the bill and the Fireman B Plan in the cleared the Senate Appropriations same way. The employee/employer Committee and went to the floor. payments for those two plans are There, on Second and Third structured differently than the Big Readings, Senate Appropriations Plan; however, the concept of Committee Chairman Eli Bebout of Riverton successfully amended the bill to require employees to pay half of the increase in employee contributions. The legislation nearly failed on Feb. 22 when a conference committee could not resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. But a compromise was brokered by the WEA President Kathy Vetter, WEA Government Relations Director Ken Decaria, Betty Jo Beardsley of the Wyoming Public Employees Association, and Joe Fender of the Federated Fire Fighters of Wyoming. It splits the cost of the contributions increase to the Big Plan in FY14 evenly between employers and employees. Employers will pay for an additional 0.5% increase in contributions in FY15 and FY16, which means they will pay three-fourths of a full 1% increase those two years while employees | WEAnews 3/11/13 2:48 PM