Pension bill withstands political pressure from teachers

The Legislative Commission on Pensions and Retirement approved a controversial omnibus bill today in the face of organized opposition from the statewide teachers’ union.

The commission’s chairman, Sen. Don Betzold, DFL-Fridley, said he and other members of the commission yesterday started receiving form e-mails with the same subject lines from teachers in their districts. The e-mails urged lawmakers to rethink contribution increases required of teachers in the bill and consider alternatives supported by the Education Minnesota teachers’ union.

The bill, which includes contribution increases and also reduces future retiree benefit increases, passed on a voice vote.

The omnibus bill will now travel through legislative committees in the House and Senate. The bill is sure to be hard to swallow for legislators in an election year. Betzold, however, noted that the three major statewide pension plans’ finances are so precarious that action needs to be taken to make sure they don’t go broke in the future. The boards that oversee the three major plans have proposed reducing the 2.5 percent annual benefit increases that retirees receive.

“The worst-case scenario is you get the fund to the point where you can’t save it,” Betzold said.