Legislative Update - Rep. Leland Morgan

​Greetings:
   Legislators are being contacted with concerns related to Vermont’s pension system reform plan that is in the Government Operations Committee.  The problem lies in the fact that for decades there has been an ever increasing unfunded liability that today is approximately 5.8 billion dollars and is increasing by many millions of dollars each month. How and why this happened is debatable, and one could play the blame game all day long, but that will not solve the problem. Action has to be taken moving forward.
   As of this writing the Committee is taking testimony, has or will be having public hearings, and will be formulating a bill that will eventually get to the whole House.  Depending on the level of debate in the Committee, public input, and the time left in this session, this reform plan might not be completed this session. 
   It has been proposed that those people that are within five years of retirement or those that have retired will not be affected. It appears that for others, everything is on the table for discussion, including the creation of a fifteen member Vermont Retirement Commission with overarching responsibilities in pension, benefits, and investments.
   This is a very complicated undertaking and nothing is set in concrete as of yet. If you have comments or concerns you can contact the Committee Chair at scopelandhanzas@leg.state.vt.us with your thoughts. I am sure there will be a lot of news coverage on this topic which will make it easy to stay informed.

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