Senate committee reviews S.295 to add job classes to retirement group and add disability pension access

Montpelier — The Senate Government Operations Committee on Friday examined S.295, a bill from Sen. Vichofsky that would make technical changes to the State Employees' Retirement System and add a provision allowing employees who become permanently disabled on the job before their planned retirement date to receive full pension benefits.

The committee’s unnamed chair introduced the bill and turned the floor over to a presenter (identified in the transcript as Speaker 3), who described S.295 as largely cleanup language changing how membership inclusion is described and as imposing a limited set of membership and election changes for "Group G." The presenter listed the specific positions S.295 would add to the Group G election: classified employees of the Department of Children and Families; fire academy site coordinators within the Division of Fire Safety; assistant state fire marshals within the Division of Fire Safety; force protection officers in the military department; and law enforcement certification and training coordinators at the Vermont Police Academy.

The presenter summarized a disability provision in the bill: "This would allow people who are permanently disabled on the job before their retirement date to access their full pension." When asked whether those employees would continue paying into the pension while disabled, the presenter replied, "They wouldn't," and said that change "could have the biggest fiscal impact." The presenter and the chair agreed the committee needs Joint Fiscal Office (JFO) and actuarial analysis to estimate how often the provision would apply and what the fiscal effect might be.

S.295 also contains a transfer rule allowing an individual who accepts a position that places them in Group G to elect to opt into Group G within one year of acceptance; the person may instead elect to remain in Group F. The presenter described these as "fairly small" tweaks to where employees sit in the system, with the disability-access provision being the primary substantive fiscal unknown.

Tom Asimov, legislative coordinator at the Burlington-based State Employees Association (BSEA), told the committee there are subgroups in the retirement system and that at least one or two groups currently have no members. Committee members discussed whether prior testimony from the Vermont State Employees' Association (VSEA) about letting law-enforcement recruits remain in Group C when they become trainers might be folded into this committee bill; Speaker 3 said the Government Operations Committee could be a logical place to consider that in the future but did not include it in S.295 because of concerns.

Committee members did not take a vote on S.295 on Friday. The presenter and other members said they will invite JFO and the bill drafter back to a future meeting to walk through the statute language and provide actuarial estimates before the committee moves the bill forward.

The committee discussed scheduling for upcoming meetings and adjourned for the weekend.