House Status:
Senate Status:
Senate Status:
Minutes for HB2044 - Committee on Insurance and Pensions
Short Title
Increasing KPERS employee contribution rate for school district employees and making appropriations for FY 2022 for the department of education for a pay increase for KPERS covered school district employees.
Minutes Content for Mon, Feb 15, 2021
The Chairperson opened the hearing on HB2044 and asked David Wiese, Assistant Revisor, Office of the Revisor of Statutes, to provide an overview of the bill. (Attachment 1)
The Chairperson asked Melissa Renick, Assistant Director for Research, Kansas Legislative Research Department, to provide an overview of the fiscal note. Ms. Renick responded to Committee questions.
Alan Conroy, Executive Director, Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS), provided informational testimony regarding the bill. His testimony included current law, legal considerations, actuarial impact and administrative impact the bill would have if it passed. (Attachment 2)
Representative Ron Highland, State Legislator, District 51 provided testimony in support of the bill. He explained that the reason for recommending this bill is directly related to the school employee's portion of the unfunded liability within the KPERS system. He said that the data clearly shows that the KPERS School group is the least funded of the five groups. He also said that it is his perspective that this shortfall needs to be addressed to ensure the future solvency of the retirement system. He concluded by saying that it would be his preference for those contributions (both employee and employer) be paid quarterly to the KPERS fund by mandate. Which would mean that the state contributions would no longer be available for legislative or executive manipulation that allows either partial payments, no payment or delayed payments. Mr. Highland responded to Committee questions. (Attachment 3)
Terry Forsyth, Director of Political Advocacy for the Kansas National Education Association, provided testimony in opposition to the bill. Mr. Forsyth believes that the 2015 Legislature changed the structure of KPERS to begin to address the unfunded actuarial liablity (UAL) of KPERS. He believes that those changes, in concert with the legislature properly funding KPERS has significantly improved the UAL. From his perspective, the best course of action to pursue regarding KPERS is to continue the the necessary funding outlined by the KPERS Actuary and to stay the course. Mr. Forsyth does not believe that in this time of the pandemic, the teachers need support, not a new 'fix' to their retirement system. He stated that they do not need to be forced to make larger contributions for years to come, without seeing any off-setting benefit. Mr. Forsyth responded to Committee questions. (Attachment 4)
Kimberly Streit Vogelsberg, an attorney with the Kansas National Education Association, provided testimony in opposition to the bill. She stated that she believes that HB2044 is unfair to the hardworking employees of public school districts. She stated that it unfairly places the burden of the increased employee contributions on public school districts, only one group of KPERS participants, to the benefit of all KPERS participants. She said this burden would be placed on them without any corresponding benefit, which she challenges is against the law (Singer v. City of Topeka). She concluded by saying that to be fair to Kansas public school district employees and to avoid unnecessary, expensive and embarrassing litigation that the State is likely to lose, that this bill should not be passed. Ms. Streit Vogelsberg responded to Committee questions. (Attachment 5)
Ernie Claudel, Lobbyist for the Kansas Association of Retired School Personnel and the Kansas Coalition of Public Retirees, provided testimony in opposition to the bill. Mr. Claudel stated that they are opposed to the bill for two main reasons - moral and legal. He is concerned about the teacher shortage caused by COVID-19 and fears that this increase to employee contributtions for teachers could discourage college students from choosing the teacher career path. He stated that there is considerable research that indicates that pensions are a decided attraction for teacher recruitment. Mr. Claudel also provided some historical background on the underfunded portion of KPERS. Finally, Mr. Claudel said that he does not believe there is an offsetting benefit increase to go along with this proposed increase in the teacher's contribution. Mr. Claudel responded to Committee questions. (Attachment 6)
Jerry Henn, Assistant Executive Director of USA-Kansas and Kansas School Superintendents Association (KASB), provided testimony in opposition to the bill. He stated that his group views this bill as a flow-through account for the state that provides no advantage to educators. He indicated that many studies show that educators get into education because of the pension, and this change would not make the pension more attractive. He emphasized that educators are already hard to find and that this bill would take away local control in setting salaries. Mr. Henn concluded that USA-Kansas and KASB does not support this bill. Mr. Henn responded to Committee questions. (Attachment 7)
Written testimony in opposition to the bill was submitted by:
Michael Scribner, Chairman of the Keeping the Kansas Promise Coalition (Attachment 8)
Sarah LaFrenz, President of the American Federation of Teachers - Kansas (Attachment 9)
After asking if there were any other conferees and seeing none, Chairperson Johnson closed the hearing on HB2044.
