House withdraws HB 2086 offer; conference committee accepts Senate position on SB 64

At a conference committee meeting, House negotiators said they would withdraw an offer to add House Bill 2,086 to Senate Bill 64 and accept the Senate position on SB 64, while agreeing to continue work on pension Tier 3 issues during the legislative interim.

“We are not willing to put that bill into Senate Bill 64, so we would not be able to agree to that,” a House member said, describing the House position on HB 2,086. Another House negotiator told the committee, “We will withdraw our offer on HB 2,086 with a little bit of reluctance.”

The negotiator said the Housebelieved its position had support in the chamber, noting "our position is solid on this 116 to 116 yes votes in the House," but described a separate understanding to continue work outside the session. He said he expects to chair an interim committee on "pensions, investments, benefits" and that Tier 3 could be examined then.

Senator Francisco acknowledged the House offer and expressed disappointment while accepting the plan to continue work in the interim. "I so appreciate this offer from the House and just express my disappointment, but I understand, concerns other have," the senator said.

Committee members noted a technical change that would be made if the parties accept the Senate position: removing an enactment-date amendment the House had attached. The conference committee adjourned after the exchange; one participant said they looked forward to continuing work during the summer interim.

The discussion recorded no formal roll-call vote or motion recorded in the transcript. The committeeparticipants described the outcome as a mutual agreement to accept the Senateversion of SB 64 for the conference report and to continue negotiations on HB 2,086 and Tier 3 policies during the interim.