Gov. John Hickenlooper signed several pieces of legislation Monday but also added to his veto tally.
The governor signed into law a bill that lawmakers and pensioners hope will start the state on a path to shoring up a $32 billion shortfall in the Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) pension plan for state workers and teachers.
Hickenlooper signed Senate Bill 200 in a signing ceremony Monday. The bill includes a one-time appropriation of $225 million in the 2018-19 budget to help start the process of fixing PERA’s underfunded defined benefit plan, which covers 585,000 state and school employees.
The measure also reduces annual cost-of-living adjustments, increases the age at which new employees hired after Jan. 1, 2019 can retire, and will require current employees to contribute an extra 2 percent of their pay.
The bill drew criticism from the Colorado Education Association, a teachers union, and many Democrats in both the House and Senate voted against it. But it got enough votes to get to the governor’s desk.
Read more at Colorado Politics: https://bit.ly/2sHpZAz
