Joint proposal on teacher and state pension plans

The following letter was sent to Sen. Dave Lewis, R-Helena, Chairman of the Joint Select Committee on Pensions, and was signed by Gov. Steve Bullock, Lt. Gov. John Walsh and representatives from the Montana Association of Counties, the Montana League of Cities and Towns, AARP of Montana, AFL-CIO, MEA-MFT, the Montana Public Employees Association, AFSCME, the Sheriffs and Police Officers Association, the Montana State Council of Professional Firefighters, the Montana State Firefighters Association, the Montana County Attorneys Association and the Montana Police Protective Association.

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Montanans know that we must work together to develop common sense solutions to complicated problems. The defined benefit pension systems at the Teachers Retirement System and the Public Employees Retirement System can and should be fixed for current and future employees, and we must do so this legislative session. Article VIII, Section 15 of the Montana Constitution compels us to act.

The public employers and employees from across Montana support temporarily increasing their contributions until the systems are detennined to be actuarially sound. This shared sacrifice is evidence of our commitment to shoring up our retirement systems.

The State of Montana must also assist our local governments and schools in meeting their financial obligations through utilization of the spendable interest from the Pennanent Fund of the Coal Tax Trust, coal severance tax revenues and state land revenues.

The proposals contained within LCs 869 and 871 accomplish our goal of fixing the Teachers Retirement System and Public Employees Retirement System through shared sacrifice and without increasing taxes. As the elected officials and the public employees responsible for fulfilling the constitutional obligation of having a financially sound pension system, we look forward to working with you to sustain the constitutional defined benefit pension plans.