PERA
PERA Double Talk by Superintendent Stevenson
Superintendent Stevenson is claiming that she and other Jeffco school district employees would support reforming PERA as it is engulfing more and more of our school's budget. However the facts do not support her statements. READ MORE at View from a Height.
What is PERA and Why Should You Care?
PERA is the Public Employees Retirement Association. We will be writing more about PERA and why you shoud care in the next few days.
-- Amy
"Double Dipping State Employee"
Ben Degrow of the Independence Institute calls Irene Griego a Double dipping state employee in a shocking article on PERA.
PERA Reform Bills Killed in Committee
Proponents for 3A and 3B have strongly argued that PERA is not a county issue and if voters want PERA reform they should talk to their Representatives/Senators. One group tells us
"Senate Bill 11-074 was introduced in February 2011 and would have allowed school districts like Jeffco to raise the employee contribution rate and lower the employer rate, but that bill died in committee."
So who sponsored that reform bill, who lobbied against it and who killed it?
Senate Bill 11-074 was sponsored by Sen. Kent Lambert, (R) Colorado Springs, and attempted to allow local government and school employers to decrease their contributions and simultaneously increase the employee contributions at the same rate or 2.5 percent. The Colorado Education Associate lobbied against it as did PERA itself and the Colorado AFL-CIO (union).
Senate Bill 127, would have put new PERA employees into a defined contribution plan instead of its defined benefit plan. This bill was also sponsored by a Republican, Sen. Scott Renfroe, Greeley.
Both bills were killed by Democrats in the Democrat controlled Senate "Kill Committee" aka the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee headed by Rollie Heath (D) of Boulder. (Incidently, the committee also killed bills relating to the “dirty dozen” tax exemption repeals, regulatory reform and illegal immigration.)
So Democrats killed the 2011 reform bills and more reform bills are likely to go down the same path (as long as Democrats control either house after November...) So we would suggest that if you decide to follow their advice and seek PERA reform at the state level, you might want to vote in enough Republicans to actually get the job done.