By Jacqueline Pitts, The Bottom Line
FRANKFORT, Ky. — In a meeting of the House State Government Committee on Tuesday, committee members were given details of pension reform bills filed Monday night and discussed new language introduced through a potential committee substitute which would look more like the reforms that passed the General Assembly earlier this year.
Rep. Jerry Miller, R-Louisville, the sponsor of House Bill 1 and House Bill 2 introduced last night, began the committee meeting by stating no vote would be taken in the committee meeting but instead, it would be an opportunity for members of the committee to ask questions about the new proposals. Miller also stated the House committee would meet again on Wednesday to hear public testimony on the bills.
Speaking about the proposals introduced last night, Miller said he didn’t see a summary of the bills until 4 p.m. on Monday afternoon before the legislature gaveled in at 8 p.m. and added a new committee substitute to House Bill 1 would be discussed in the meeting with a copy distributed to legislators later in the day.
House Bill 1 stripped many of the provisions of the bill passed earlier this year, Senate Bill 151 which was recently overturned by the Kentucky Supreme Court, in order to avoid any potential legal challenges. Those provisions removed in House Bill 1 include moving to a level-dollar funding mechanism to ensure full funding for the systems, changes to current pension plan (Tier I and Tier II) employees of the Kentucky Retirement System (KRS), and other small changes.
Miller explained the committee substitute to House Bill 1 introduced in the meeting Tuesday afternoon would put those provisions back in and would mirror what was in Senate Bill 151 with the only changes being new effective dates within the language.
None of the proposals were considered for a vote in the hour-long Tuesday committee meeting before the House gaveled in at 2 p.m.
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