Breaking: House approves pension solvency bill

A proposal to shore up one of the state’s two large public retirement systems will soon be landing on Gov. Susana Martinez’s desk.

House members voted 48-17 to approve the high-profile bill, which would affect roughly 86,000 government workers and retirees covered by the Public Employees Retirement Association.

The legislation has already been approved by the Senate. Among other things, it would trim the retirement benefits of current workers, future employees and retirees. It would also increase how much both employees and the government, via taxpayer-funded contributions, pay into the pension fund.

Democratic Rep. Emily Kane of Albuquerque, who works for the Albuquerque Fire Department, tried twice to amend the legislation during today’s debate. However, both attempts (one of which would have increased the level of taxpayer-funded contributions) were unsuccessful.

Rep. Luciano “Lucky” Varela, D-Santa Fe, pointed out the amendments could have led to the bill’s demise , since it would have had to return to the Senate for concurrence with less than 72 hours left in this year’s 60-day regular session.

Martinez, the state’s first-term Republican governor has expressed opposition to using higher government contribution levels to ensure future pension solvency.

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