Beech Tree News Network

An ailing pension system threatening our state’s financial stability is the number one issue facing our great Commonwealth. As your State Senator, I have vowed to keep the pension promise to our teachers and public servants.

The framework of our proposed reform focuses on restructuring the pension funding mechanism to ensure the systems are on the pathway to solvency. In this plan, there will be no Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) “clawbacks,” and checks for those already retired will not be reduced. Those who are still working will not be forced into an older retirement age and their current defined benefits will remain the same until the employee reaches their promised level of service for their pension type. Additionally, future non-hazardous employees and teachers will be enrolled in a defined contribution retirement plan that provides comparable benefits to the previous plans.
 
For those enrolled in hazardous plans and future hazardous employees, their benefits will remain the same. This reform will also close a loophole in death benefits for families of hazardous employees, ensuring those who lose their family members in the line of duty will receive their full benefits.

Many people have also asked how legislative pensions will be addressed in pension reform. The proposed plan ends the Legislative Retirement Plan and transfers its assets and administration to the KRS Board. New legislators and legislators elected after 2013 will be placed into same DC plan as public employees.  Other legislators will see their pension benefits reduced as any future benefits will be in the KRS plan. The legislation also ends the ability of current legislators to “supersize” their pensions and it will reduce the monthly benefit of retired legislators who did increase their pension by closing a loophole and recalculating benefits.  As officials elected and held accountable by you, the citizens of our great Commonwealth, we want to ensure these reforms are put in place across the board.

Lastly, I want to emphasize that there will be no emergency clause attached to this proposed legislation. That means the reforms will not go into effect until July of 2018, offering sufficient time for current state employees to consider how the changes may affect them. Ultimately, it is hoped these reforms help us better utilize taxpayer dollars, improve the Commonwealth’s rating with credit agencies to strengthen our economy, and most importantly, provide a sustainable retirement for our public servants. I look forward to discussing and answering questions on this matter with you, my constituents, before taking any further action.
 
If you have any questions or comments about these issues or any other public policy issue, please call me toll-free at 1-800-372-7181 or email me at [email protected].  You can also review the Legislature’s work online at www.lrc.ky.gov.

 
 Senator C.B. Embry, JR (R-Morgantown) represents the 6th District including Butler, Hopkins, Muhlenberg, and Ohio Counties. He is Vice Chair of Veterans, Military Affairs, & Public Protection Committee and co-chairman of the Tobacco Settlement Agreement Fund Oversight Committee. He also serves as a member of the Agriculture Committee, the Natural Resources and Energy Committee, the Transportation Committee, and the Budget Review Subcommittee on Education.