Second Substitute SB 63

House sponsor, Representative Brad Dee, testified that pension systems must be funded at 100%. He said that Utah's pension was doing fine until 2008. If the pension continues on this path, he said Utah's pension will become completely unfunded.


"Is that the message that you want to send employees today?" Dee asked.


Representative Jim Dunnigan, R-Taylorsville moved Amendment 10. The amendment allows a public safety employee to buy out up to 5 years early. Public safety does not have this option in the current retirement system.


Dee accepted the amendment as friendly and added that legislators worked late into last night to design these compromises. The motion passed.


Dunnigan added Amendment 9, which address concerns that employees won't have enough retirement benefits to survive upon retiring. Dunnigan moved to provide an additional 25% in retirement benefits.


Dee said that this was a good compromise for employees, understanding that the state will, "Increase payment on our house just a few more years."


Representative Eric Hutchings, R-Kearns lauded Dunnigan for his work on the bill.


Dunnigan's motion to amend passed.


Representative Harper moved Amendment 6, which takes the multiplier for each year of service from 1% to 1.5%. Dee accepted this amendment. Harper clarified that this multiplier only applies to new-hires hired after July 1, 2011. The amendment passed.



Representative Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem, moved Amendment 8, which allows employee who didn't vest with the retirement system to come back within 10 years (instead of 5) to vest with the state. The amendment also allows plan members to contribute to another 401(k) plan of the member's choice.


Dee said, "I have more friends than I ever realized. This is a friendly amendment too."



The motion to amend passed.


Representative Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, moved Amendment 11. The amendment extended the election of the spousal death benefit. UPEA will update members when we learn more about this amendment. The amendment passed.


Representative Ronda Menlove, R-Garland, moved Amendment 12. This amendment requires yearly reports and a study of the retirement system after the system is 100% restored. This amendment allows an ongoing dialog about the retirement system. Dee supported the motion to amend.

The motion passed.


As of this writing, the bill has been circled to clean up the bill and add the amendments.