A pension reform proposal has been released. Labor leaders and top lawmakers are behind it. [View all]

Along-awaited pension reform proposal is finally out.

On Monday, a special legislative task force charged with finding a way to pay down the ballooning debts of the Vermont teachers’ and state employees’ pension systems unanimously endorsed a package of recommendations.

The reform plan still has a ways to go. It must be crafted into a bill — it will make its legislative debut in the Senate Government Operations committee — and pass both chambers before it could garner Gov. Phil Scott’s signature. But it has significant momentum behind it.

When lawmakers took a first pass at pension reform last spring, a proposal put forward by the House faced immediate backlash from labor unions and was shelved within days of its unveiling. The new proposal was crafted by a task force composed of lawmakers and representatives from the Vermont-National Education Association, the Vermont State Employees Association and the Vermont Troopers Association — and is being applauded by labor and legislative leaders alike.

“The state has never made a commitment like this before to the pension systems for both state employees and teachers,” said Andrew Emrich, a VT-NEA representative on the task force who teaches at Brookside Primary School in Waterbury.

Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2022/01/10/a-pension-reform-proposal-has-been-released-labor-leaders-and-top-lawmakers-are-behind-it/