House Finance Committee approves amendment removing temporary retirement-tech position

The Alaska House Finance Committee on Thursday adopted Amendment 15, which removes a previously added temporary “retirement tech 2” position intended to reduce processing times for teacher retirement paperwork. The committee approved the amendment by roll call, 6-5.

The amendment’s sponsor, Co-Chair Shrogy, told the committee, “Amendment number 15 deletes a previously added retirement tech 2 position during the summer months,” and said the change was proposed to “recognize the fiscal situation that we’re in.” Co-Chair Shrogy framed the move as a small general‑fund savings while noting retirement staff handle a surge of retirements at the end of the school year.

The committee’s discussion centered on two issues: whether the department that processes retirements had requested the additional position, and whether removing the slot would worsen delays for retirees. Representative Allard said the department director had testified that an additional employee would help and described the office’s process as largely paper‑based, which she said creates a delay: “it does take them about 6 to 9 weeks to process it,” she said. Representative Hannan argued the funding would not allow a hire to be effective for the current retirement cycle because hiring could not start until July 1.

Opponents of the deletion emphasized the operational impact. Representative Bynum said the delay is stressful for retirees and noted different statements about how much UGF (unrestricted general funds) the slot would cost, saying, “we're talking about $3,000 of UGF.” Supporters pointed to committee testimony that the department did not request the addition and said the department could handle the workload without the extra position. Co-Chair Shrogy and others stressed the state’s constrained revenue forecast and prioritized restraining growth across fund sources including retirement trusts.

On the procedural roll call, the committee recorded the following votes: Representative Hannan — yes; Representative Johnson — no; Representative Stack — no; Representative Allard — no; Representative Bynum — no; Representative Tomaszewski/Thomas Heskey — no; Representative Jimmy — yes; Representative Galvin — yes; Representative Foster — yes; Representative Shrage — yes; Co-Chair Josephson — yes. The clerk summarized the tally as 6 yeas, 5 nays; the amendment was adopted.

The committee also discussed scheduling for later in the day and public testimony planned for an actuary briefing on House Bill 78, the retirement bill. Co-Chair Josephson said the committee would reconvene in the afternoon at 1:30 p.m. for further amendments and expected to move the retirement bill out of committee later that day.

Votes at a glance: Amendment 15 — Adopted, 6–5. Motion (as described on the record): delete the previously added retirement tech 2 position; mover recorded on the floor as Co-Chair Shrogy (mover identified on the record at the start of the amendment discussion); no formal second recorded in the transcript.

What changed formally: Adoption of Amendment 15 removes a temporary retirement-processing position that had been added earlier in the subcommittee process. The transcript records competing views about whether the department requested the slot, the likely hiring timeline (funding available July 1), and processing delays that can run weeks to months depending on annual retiree volume. Specific long-run budgetary or operational impacts beyond the committee’s action were not resolved in the meeting.