House Reverses Itself Passes ERB Changes

Mimi Stewart

NMPolitics - (Full disclosure: My wife is an ERB member, and I authored a column earlier this week opposing this bill.) The House approved today a bill that would change retirement plans for future public employees and current workers with less than five years of service – though it would exclude law enforcement officers from the changes. House Bill 644, sponsored by Rep. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, passed the House on a vote of 37-32. It now heads to the Senate for consideration. This is the second time the House considered the bill, which it rejected on a vote of 38-28 on Sunday. Since then, apparently, a number of members changed their minds. The bill would set at 55 the minimum age that PERA and ERB members can begin drawing retirement. It would reduce the annual cost of living adjustment for PERA workers. And it would require many current employees in both retirement systems – those with less than five years of service as of July 1 – to work more years before they retire than they would have had to work under the retirement plan in place when they were hired. Read full story here: News New Mexico

House Reverses Itself Passes ERB Changes