PERA bill wins House approval

SANTA FE – A scaled-back attempt to shore up New Mexico’s retirement system for state workers, police officers and other government employees is headed to Gov. Susana Martinez after winning House approval Wednesday.

A Martinez spokesman did not immediately say whether the governor would sign or veto the legislation, which would affect more than 86,000 workers and retirees covered by the Public Employees Retirement Association.

“The governor has worked diligently with legislators from both parties and is pleased that they voted down an additional increase in taxpayer contributions to the government-employee pension fund,” spokesman Enrique Knell said.

“She remains concerned about the solvency level the bill achieves and will thoroughly review it,” Knell added.

The House voted 48-17 to approve the proposed solvency fix Wednesday, less than a week after it had been endorsed by the Senate. Most of the votes against the bill came Wednesday from Republican lawmakers.

The final vote came after Democratic Rep. Emily Kane of Albuquerque tried twice to amend the legislation.

One amendment would have restored a steeper increase in taxpayer-funded contributions to the pension fund. That would have changed the bill to its original form, before those increases were trimmed in a Senate committee from 1.5 percentage points to 0.4 percentage point.

Kane, a captain in the Albuquerque Fire Department, described the changes previously made to the measure as unfair for retirees who rely on their pension checks to get by.

“I believe that we are betraying the many members of PERA,” she told colleagues during Wednesday’s debate.

In response, several legislators pointed out that the governor has spoken out against increasing taxpayer-funded contributions to shore up the state’s pension funds.

“Political will is not there to fix it by employer contributions,” said Rep. Tomás Salazar, D-Las Vegas.

The proposed PERA solvency fix approved by the Legislature and sent to Martinez’s desk for final consideration calls for retirement benefits to be trimmed for future workers, active employees and retirees covered by the retirement system, while enacting stricter retirement eligibility guidelines for future hires.

In addition, Senate Bill 27 would require government employees to funnel more of their paychecks – an additional 1.5 percent of their salaries – into the pension fund. Meanwhile, the smaller increases in taxpayer-funded contributions would cost the state about $2.3 million per year in additional dollars, starting in the 2015 budget year.

Just like the state’s teacher retirement fund, PERA has seen its fiscal condition worsen in recent years, due in part to market-driven investment losses.
— This article appeared on page A6 of the Albuquerque Journal