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Appropriations committee advances PERS budget; adds two staff to support defined-contribution program and modernizes IT
Summary
The committee approved House Bill 1023 for the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) with funding for two new positions (accounting FTE and enrollment specialist), IT upgrades and continued implementation costs for the newly established defined-contribution program.
The House Appropriations Committee voted to advance House Bill 1023, the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) budget, approving additional staff and technology funding to support the defined-contribution program and continuing system costs.
Testimony and committee discussion emphasized the agency’s expanded workload from administering multiple retirement plans. The approved amendment adds two positions — an accounting FTE to help with onboarding and employer training (PERS serves state agencies and roughly 482 employers) and an enrollment specialist to ensure members enter the correct plan within the defined-contribution program — and funds cost-to-continue salary and insurance increases. The budget also includes one-time funding to finish a multi-year business-system implementation (SageTec/sagitec-related contractors were discussed in testimony) and increased IT, licensing and desktop-support costs to sustain the ongoing modernization. The amendment also provided funds tied to board-member per-diems and an intern program.
Committee members reviewed participation numbers: PERS serves about 26,217 non-retired participants and 14,129 retirees across roughly 377 political subdivisions and 101 agencies; the defined-contribution plan had 93 non-retiree participants and 108 retired participants at the time of testimony. Representative Kompanik moved the amendment (25.0167.01001); Representative Pyle seconded. The committee adopted the amendment and voted to advance HB 1023 as amended.
