Legislature(2023 - 2024)SENATE FINANCE 532
05/10/2023 01:30 PM Senate FINANCE
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB88 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 88 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE
May 10, 2023
2:05 p.m.
2:05:33 PM
CALL TO ORDER
Co-Chair Olson called the Senate Finance Committee meeting
to order at 2:05 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Lyman Hoffman, Co-Chair
Senator Donny Olson, Co-Chair
Senator Bert Stedman, Co-Chair
Senator Click Bishop
Senator Jesse Kiehl
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Kelly Merrick
Senator David Wilson
ALSO PRESENT
Senator Cathy Giessel, Sponsor; Rorie Watt, City Manager,
City and Borough of Juneau; Lon Garrison, Executive
Director, Association of Alaska Schoolboards, Juneau;
Kimberly Homme, Self, Juneau.
PRESENT VIA TELECONFERENCE
Mark Springer, Mayor of Bethel, Bethel; Scott Macmanus,
Superintendent, Alaska Gateway School District, Tok; Erica
Kludt-Painter, Principal and Superintendent, Petersburg
School District; Sandi Ryan, Fairbanks Education
Association, Fairbanks; Denver Perry, Self, North Pole; Dan
Polta, Superintendent, Denali Borough School District,
Healy; Bert Houghtaling, Self, Big Lake; Stephanie
Illichman-Pearson, Fairbanks North Star Borough Employee
Association, Fairbanks; Darrell Evans, President, Anchorage
Police Department Employees Association, Anchorage; Tracy
Balovich, Juneau Education Support Staff, Juneau; Corey
Aist, President, Anchorage Education Association,
Anchorage.
SUMMARY
SB 88 RETIREMENT SYSTEMS; DEFINED BENEFIT OPT.
SB 88 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further
consideration.
SENATE BILL NO. 88
"An Act relating to the Public Employees' Retirement
System of Alaska and the teachers' retirement system;
providing certain employees an opportunity to choose
between the defined benefit and defined contribution
plans of the Public Employees' Retirement System of
Alaska and the teachers' retirement system; and
providing for an effective date."
2:05:53 PM
Co-Chair Olson relayed that the bill had been initially
heard on May 2, 2023. He explained that public testimony
would be taken as technology allowed.
2:06:16 PM
SENATOR CATHY GIESSEL, SPONSOR, explained that the bill was
a shared risk defined benefit program that would provide
secure retirement for state employees in Alaska as well as
teachers and public municipality employees.
2:06:53 PM
MARK SPRINGER, MAYOR OF BETHEL, BETHEL (via
teleconference), spoke in support of the bill. He stated
that the bill would help attract new workers to the state
and would encourage people to stay in Alaska.
Mr. Springer relayed that the previous Tier 1 and Tier 2
retirement plans had helped to attract and retain workers
in Alaska. He believed that a new defined benefit would
attract future employees. He said that Bethel had many
tenured employees in Tier 1 and Tier 2 plans. He spoke
about the cost of living in rural Alaska and believed that
incentives were needed to secure employees. He argued that
lack of a defined benefit limited Alaskas ability to
compete on the national stage. He urged committee support
for the legislation.
2:10:50 PM
RORIE WATT, CITY MANAGER, CITY AND BOROUGH OF JUNEAU, spoke
in support of the bill. He cited that the current
retirement system did not work and was a challenge to
securing employees across all departments and
organizations. He stated that the city was expending local
resources to provide additional human resources staff and
had implemented hiring bonuses and other incentives to
attract employees. He offered a glimpse into how the
current Tier 4 plan appeared unattractive to potential
employees. He shared that when he began his career the most
important thing to him was his wage but as he had aged
insurance and retirement had become the priority. He noted
that the private sector could offer additional incentives
that the state should consider.
2:15:54 PM
SCOTT MACMANUS, SUPERINTENDENT, ALASKA GATEWAY SCHOOL
DISTRICT, TOK (via teleconference), spoke in support of the
bill. He thought the bill was a good start to repairing a
system that had been damaged over the previous two decades.
He said that there were 46 teaching positions in his
district, with a half dozen that had yet to be filled. He
felt that the current retirement offerings for teachers
were not competitive when compared to the rest of the
nation. He said that Alaska teachers stayed in-state
because they loved Alaska, but without incentives and a
long-tern retirement solution the state was losing
teachers. He spoke of the emotional cost of losing a
teacher in a community. He testified to the various
retention programs in his district but lamented that they
were not a long-term solution. He hoped that passage of the
legislation would attract the best and brightest educators
to the state.
2:20:17 PM
ERICA KLUDT-PAINTER, PRINCIPAL AND SUPERINTENDENT,
PETERSBURG SCHOOL DISTRICT (via teleconference), spoke in
support of the bill. She relayed that the current teacher
retirement system was failing to recruit and retain quality
teachers in the state. She asserted that lower wages and
high cost of living had led to a loss of teachers in the
state. She lamented that the current system failed to
attract teachers, which impacted the quality of education
that students received. She urged the committee to support
the legislation.
2:23:07 PM
Co-Chair Olson OPENED public testimony.
2:23:20 PM
LON GARRISON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ASSOCIATION OF ALASKA
SCHOOLBOARDS, JUNEAU, testified in favor of the bill. He
relayed that the board had long supported a return to the
defined benefit program as the preferred option for staff
retirement. He stressed that school districts faced an
unprecedented crisis in retaining teachers and staff, which
directly led to the decline of the states constitutional
mandate to provide a quality education to every student
every day. He said that school boards across the state were
facing some of the most significant challenges ever faced
in allocating severely dilapidated resources. He said that
the lack of a defined benefit system was another challenge
in recruiting quality educators and staff. He believed that
investment in quality staff was an investment the state
needed.
2:25:41 PM
KIMBERLY HOMME, SELF, JUNEAU, spoke in support of the bill.
She relayed that she was a recently retired teacher and
school administrator from the Anchorage, Kenai, and Juneau
school districts. She thought that schools and service jobs
were struggling to find qualified employees and believed
that a true pension system would attract employees. She
said that educators wanted to contribute to a retirement
system that was not reliant solely on the stock market. She
felt that future Alaskans would benefit from a retirement
system that allowed them to retire at a reasonable age. She
urged the committee to advance the legislation.
2:28:35 PM
SANDI RYAN, FAIRBANKS EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, FAIRBANKS (via
teleconference), testified in support of the legislation.
She had been a teacher in Alaska for 36 years. She noted
that Alaska was the only state where teachers had no access
to Social Security. She felt that teachers focused on the
details of their retirement plan as they advanced in their
careers and could look to employment in other states to
meet their needs. She stressed that Fairbanks was losing
educators as fast as they could be recruited. She implored
the committee to support SB 88.
2:30:49 PM
DENVER PERRY, SELF, NORTH POLE (via teleconference),
testified in support of the bill. He was a Tier I retiree
and recipient of the defined benefit pension. He detailed
his career in and out of Alaska and said that his
retirement plan had kept him working in the state. He urged
the committee to pass SB 88.
2:31:55 PM
DAN POLTA, SUPERINTENDENT, DENALI BOROUGH SCHOOL DISTRICT,
HEALY (via teleconference), spoke in support of the bill.
He believed the current system was critically and
dangerously flawed. He shared that teachers did not earn
Social Security and the PERS and TRS system did not
interact with the Social Security system in a meaningful
way. He felt the current system did not provide appropriate
disability support to employees.
2:34:44 PM
AT EASE
2:35:08 PM
RECONVENED
BERT HOUGHTALING, SELF, BIG LAKE (via teleconference),
spoke in opposition to SB 88. He cited that over 33 percent
of Alaskans were living on welfare in one form or another
and believed that the bill would make the rich richer.
2:37:07 PM
STEPHANIE ILLICHMAN-PEARSON, FAIRBANKS NORTH STAR BOROUGH
EMPLOYEE ASSOCIATION, FAIRBANKS (via teleconference),
testified in support of the bill. She listed a long list of
duties of public employees including providing public
transportation, running recreational facilities, managing
facilities, providing library services, managing the road
system, solid waste management, and managing the budgets
among other duties. She mentioned recruitment and retention
problems in the state. She lamented that local governments
were struggling with recruitment and retention daily, which
burned out employees and limited services available to the
public. She urged the committee to pass the bill.
2:39:07 PM
DARRELL EVANS, PRESIDENT, ANCHORAGE POLICE DEPARTMENT
EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION, ANCHORAGE (via teleconference),
spoke in support of the bill. He had been in law
enforcement for over 28 years and started in law
enforcement at the age of 22. He noted that at that time he
was not thinking of retirement or his financial future. He
expressed relief that he had a pension in place for his
family's future financial security. He cited that law
enforcement was facing a recruitment and retention crisis.
He shared current vacancies at the Anchorage Police
Department, which was high. He believed that the issue was
a bipartisan one based solely on recruiting and retaining
employees in Alaska.
2:42:16 PM
TRACY BALOVICH, JUNEAU EDUCATION SUPPORT STAFF, JUNEAU (via
teleconference), spoke in support of the bill. She shared
that she worked for the Juneau School District and was Tier
III. She said that without a defined benefit plans the
state could not recruit and retain employees. She said that
not having a solid pension in place for employees left the
district understaffed and the children of Alaska
underserved.
2:44:11 PM
COREY AIST, PRESIDENT, ANCHORAGE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION,
ANCHORAGE (via teleconference), testified in support of the
bill. He relayed that he was a teacher with the Anchorage
School District. He cited that as of May 1, 2023,
approximately 350 teachers had resigned from the district.
He noted that most of those were in their first 5 years of
service. He said that there were 3,500 educators in the
district in 2011, which had dropped to below 3,000 in 3023.
He stressed the importance of attracting teachers to the
state and keeping them here once they arrived.
2:46:13 PM
Mr. Polta continued his testimony from earlier in the
public comment period. He described the many challenges of
the current system. He reiterated the lack of support for
employees living with a work-related disability. He
expressed concern of the cost to the state, the employer,
and the employee. He hoped that the state could provide a
program that provided generously and was also cost
effective.
2:48:55 PM
Co-Chair Olson CLOSED public testimony.
Co-Chair Olson relayed that amendments would be due
Thursday at 5pm.
SB 88 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further
consideration.
ADJOURNMENT
2:50:02 PM
The meeting was adjourned at 2:50 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SB88 Testimoy Hill.pdf |
SFIN 5/10/2023 1:30:00 PM |
SB 88 |