Reps. Staneski & Ferraro Vote No on Pension Deal

From the Connecticut General Assembly: State Reps. Pam Staneski (R-119) and Charles Ferraro (R-117) voted against a pension funding reform agreement made between the governor and union leaders, and urged the legislature to work together in a bi-partisan manner to assess alternative methods to address the state’s growing pension system problems.

The governor’s plan is to extend the financing of the State Employee’s Retirement System (SERS) unfunded liability from 2032 to 2046, Republican lawmakers from both the House and Senate Chambers had released data obtained from two actuarial analyses that show pairing pension finance changes with modifications to state employee benefits could increase the solvency of the state pension plan. With this report, Republican leaders in the House and Senate shared how additional, more effective and acceptable steps can rebalance the state’s unfunded pension liabilities.

Rep. Staneski said, "I could not in good conscience vote to push ongoing pension crisis onto our children and grandchildren. By extending the payment plan from 15 years to 30 years, the house voted on a deal that will cost CT taxpayers over $11 billion more dollars instead of addressing the real issue-pension reform."

"This deal is a Band-Aid approach and short-term remedy to solving our unfunded pension liability problem," said Rep. Ferraro. "We need to stop shifting our state's pension problems onto our children and grandchildren." The State House voted 76 to 72 to ratify the deal on a nearly party-line vote, while the State Senate voted 18-17 with the Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman casting the tie-breaking vote in favor of the deal. Information attached includes:

• An analysis from the Reason Foundation modeling changes to SERS that could be added to the SEBAC agreement funding policy changes including: adopting a defined contribution retirement plan for new hires , increasing employee pension contributions to 4%, and capping cost of living adjustments to 2% – which would save state taxpayers approximately $100 million annually, saving $2.2 billion over 20 years.

• An analysis from the nonprofit Pew Charitable Trusts showing the reduction in unfunded liability that could be achieved by contributing $200 million more annually. Pew confirmed that if the $200 million is sent back into the fund it would cut 7 years off the length of the refinancing, thereby saving taxpayers billions in future payments.

Photos courtesy of the Connecticut General Assembly