Senate Bill 2120 by Sen. Rick Brinkley and Rep. Randy McDaniel was amended today in the House Economic Development and Financial Services Committee to remove the language that would have changed the OPERS pension system for future state employees. The bill now only contains language about medical school interns and is essentially no longer a “pension” bill.
The only bill currently dealing with state employee pensions is HB2630 also by McDaniel and Brinkley. It creates a defined contribution pension plan for new state employees instead of the current OPERS defined benefit plan.
HB2630 barely passed out of the house earlier this session. Some lawmakers have said they will not support this bill without changes to improve state employee state employee pay being passed this session.
HB2630 has the title stricken so it may be further amended and must go to conference committee before being eligible to be heard by the house and senate for final approval. It would also then need to be signed by the Governor before becoming law.
OPEA has said that there should be no changes to benefits without improvements to state employee pay as recommended in the Governor’s pay study. OPEA is pleased that SB2120 has had the pension language removed from it.
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