Laserfiche WebLink
7. Eliminate the availability of Employer Paid Member Contribution(EPMC). <br /> 8. Require employees to pay the employees share of PERS (e.g. 7-8% for miscellaneous <br /> employees and 8-9% for safety employees.) <br /> 9. Remove caps on the percentages employees can pay for the total cost of PERS programs. <br /> 10. Give Government agencies through the collective bargaining process the option to extend <br /> retirement ages for miscellaneous employees up to social security retirement ages. Seek <br /> minimum (floor) retirement age of 60 for miscellaneous employees and 55 for safety <br /> employees before earning full retirement benefits. <br /> 11.Prohibit retroactive pension increases. <br /> 12. Meet any retirement needs for part-time employees with alternatives to a Defined Benefit <br /> Plan. <br /> 13. Delete the 1,000 hours rule for part-time employee mandatory enrollment in CaIPERS. <br /> 14. Prohibit employees and employers from taking contribution"holidays." <br /> 15. Provide employers with a hybrid pension system option that caps the Defined Benefit <br /> PERS pension at an annual maximum retiree benefit equal to 70% of the retiring <br /> employees' eligible base pay (determined by averaging the 3 highest year's pay) and <br /> supplement the DBP with a risk managed PERS defined contribution plan. A DCP should <br /> integrate with a DBP not,as some pension revision plans suggest, substitute for it. <br /> ADDITIONAL STEPS THAT APPEAR NECESSARY TO RESTORE PERS TO <br /> SUSTAINABILITY AND PROVIDE TRANSPARENCY <br /> 1. Pension sustainability cannot be fully achieved without addressing the benefits of both <br /> current and future employees. After a detailed legal review and to the extent permitted by <br /> federal and state law, a well-designed State Constitutional Amendment is needed for <br /> prospective retirement formula reductions and incremental retirement age increases for <br /> current employees to guarantee their already accrued earned benefits, while making the <br /> plan sustainable, affordable and market competitive on a going-forward basis. The <br /> amendment should also include a risk-managed PERS Defined Contribution Plan for <br /> public agencies. <br /> 2. The PERS Board needs to be restructured with a substantial increase in independent <br /> public members (preferably with financial expertise) to ensure greater representation of <br /> tax payer interests with regard to public pension decisions. <br /> 3. Set uniform standards and definitions for disability benefits and evaluate the level of <br /> benefit that is considered as tax exempt. The tax exempt portion should either be <br /> eliminated or allowed on a proportional basis to the severity of the disability. <br /> 4. If the above reforms prove unfeasible or ineffective,consider a standard public employee <br /> pension system where one benefit level is offered to every employee as a further option <br /> to restore sustainability to PERS. <br /> 5. While not addressed in this paper, Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB), such as <br /> retiree health care, represents another unfunded liability for many local agencies and <br /> must be addressed through comprehensive reform measures. <br /> 3 <br />