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Committee advances bill letting fully disabled veterans access PERS benefits without penalty
Summary
The House Finance Committee on Thursday reported House Bill 17 out of committee with individual recommendations; the bill would allow veterans rated 100% permanently and totally disabled by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to access accrued PERS retirement benefits without penalty if they have at least five years of credited service.
The House Finance Committee voted to report House Bill 17 out of committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes after sponsor and staff testimony. Representative David Rauscher (sponsor) said HB17 removes structural barriers that prevent a small group of veterans — those rated 100% totally and permanently disabled by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs — from accessing accrued Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) benefits without penalty, provided they have at least five years of credited service.
Rauscher said the bill “does not create new benefits; it simply removes structural barriers for a small group of veterans.” Committee staff read an analysis from the Department of Administration (DOA) into the record describing the mechanics: if enacted, a member seeking to count purchased military service toward retirement could become indebted to the plan for the cost of those years; DOA said the member would have several options to address that indebtedness, including a personal payment, pretax transfers, using deferred compensation or annuity accounts, pretax payroll deductions, salary redirection agreements, or accepting an actuarial reduction in retirement benefits.
Members asked about fiscal costs. Staff and the sponsor said the department provided the best available cost estimates but no definitive dollar amount was available in committee testimony. Craig Valdez, staff to Representative Rauscher, told members there were no additional exact numbers beyond the department’s fiscal note.
Motion and committee action: a committee member moved to report House Bill 17 out of committee with attached fiscal notes and recommendations; there were no objections and the bill was reported out.
Why it matters: supporters said the bill treats military service consistently with civilian service and eases retirement access for veterans severely disabled in service. Committee discussion focused on implementation mechanics and the fiscal effect on the retirement system; DOA’s letter describing repayment options was entered into the record to explain how a member’s indebtedness would be handled.
The committee asked staff to include the fiscal note and DOA correspondence in the committee report. The bill now advances with the committee’s record and will be considered in subsequent legislative stages.
