Senate Bill 18-200

Senate Bill 18-200 is a proposed initiative that has been assigned to the Senate Finance Committee as of March 7, 2018. The bill currently has bipartisan sponsors from across the state, and if passed by the legislature and signed into law by the governor, it would introduce several reforms to PERA’s current operating guidelines. According to PERA on the Issues, “the bill upholds the PERA Board’s goal of bringing all five of PERA’s Trust Funds to 100 percent funding within 30 years.”

Major changes to PERA that would occur under SB 18-200 span several areas. The definition of salary would come to include amounts deducted from pay for a cafeteria plan and/or a qualified transportation plan. Unused sick leave that can legally be converted to cash payments is included in salary, which insurance premiums paid by employers are not. Member contributions to the retirement fund would increase to 11% over an incremental period of three years. Retirement benefits through PERA require different numbers of “service years”, and the way these are counted would shift under PERA. Current members of PERA who are receiving benefits also receive 2% cost of living adjustments (COLA), which would be reduced to 1.25% increases beginning in 2020. Further analysis of each aspect of SB 18-200 is explained on the Colorado General Assembly’s bill website.