Nevada Sen. Warren Hardy, R-Las Vegas, talks with an unidentified lobbyist at the Legislature in Carson City, Nev. on Tuesday, May 19, 2009. Hardy, who's handling the negotiations on government employee benefits for Republicans, says lawmakers are moving closer to finalizing a plan to fill a $1.1 billion hole in a nearly $7 billion state budget for the next two fiscal years. (AP Photo/Nevada Appeal, Cathleen Allison) ** Mags out, No sales **
Public retirement benefits will get tighter and more austere under compromise legislation introduced in the Senate Tuesday. But as of Tuesday at
9 p.m., it wasn't a done deal.
SB427 would slow the rate at which state workers, including police and fire employees, earn their retirement, and make younger retirees work longer before they can leave with full retirement benefits.
Republicans still were seeking more concessions in those two areas. But Sen. Warren Hardy, R-Las Vegas, agreed there is general agreement on the other provisions in the bill.
The changes would apply only to public workers hired after Jan. 1, 2010. Current employees would still operate under the existing rules.
For years, retirement pay for public workers was based on the average of a worker's three highest years of salary. They received 2.5 percent of that average for each year they worked up to a maximum of 75 percent after 30 years of service. That was increased in 2001 to 2.67 percent for each year of service, but some say that is costing the state too much.
SB427 rolls it back to 2.5 percent. Republicans want it cut back to 2.37 percent, which would make it 32 years of service to max out retirement.
Currently, public workers can retire at 65 if they have at least five years of service, 60 if they have at least 10 years of service and at any age after 30 years. The bill would change the law so workers with 10 years of service would have to wait until at least age 62.
Hardy wants more change so that even with 30 years or more in service, workers would have to wait until at least age 62. Actuaries say that will save public retirement plans millions of dollars in the future.
A similar change is proposed for police and fire employees, who can now retire at 55 with 10 years service, 50 with 20 years and any age after 25 years. The bill would require police-fire workers to wait until 60 with 10 years of service and 55 with 20 years in.
The bill eliminates the ability of police-fire employees to retire at any age after 25 years service.
SB427 also increases the financial penalty for retiring earlier than those limits from 4 percent for each year to 6 percent.
Existing law allows police and fire employees' spouses to get half their retirement benefit upon their death once the spouse reaches age 50. The bill would eliminate that survivor's benefit for workers hired after Jan. 1.
The bill also tightens how much "call-back pay" can be counted in determining a retiree's retirement compensation.
SB427 was referred to the Senate Finance Committee for study.