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Sponsor of HB 11-22 seeks shorter vesting for Anne Arundel County sheriff pensions; state pensions agency warns of statewide cost risks
Summary
HB 11-22 would lower the vesting period for the Anne Arundel County sheriff's office from 10 to 8 years; the county sheriff described staffing strains and recruitment challenges, while the State Retirement Agency warned the change could prompt widespread similar requests and raise employer contribution costs.
Delegate Simmons presented HB 11-22 to the Appropriations Committee as a local Anne Arundel County bill to change the pension vesting timeline for the Anne Arundel County Office of the Sheriff, seeking vesting eligibility at eight years rather than the current 10-year period.
“Currently, the pension investing is for a 10 year timeline,” Simmons said, and asked the committee for a favorable report to address local recruitment and retention concerns.
The Anne Arundel County sheriff (who did not state his name in the transcript) told the committee he inherited a roughly 20% vacancy rate that later fell but said recruiting and retaining candidates for sheriff remains challenging and the change would make the position more appealing to potential candidates.
The State Retirement Agency’s Anne Gothorp testified in opposition, saying the bill would reduce vesting for one group of the roughly 253,000 active members currently subject to 10-year vesting and warned that passing the bill could generate requests from other groups seeking similar treatment. “Because of this, we do not think it's unreasonable to assume that if you pass this legislation, you're gonna get flooded with requests for every other group to come down to 8 years,” Gothorp told the committee, and she said the change could significantly increase employer contribution rates for the state and local jurisdictions.
The committee thanked witnesses and indicated it would consider the testimony; no formal vote or final committee action appears in the transcript.
