Thread by @RylandKY

It's day 3 of Gov Matt Bevin's special legislative session dealing w/ surging pension costs. Bevin's proposal passed out of a committee on Saturday, today the House of Representatives will likely vote on it

There are four amendments to Bevin's proposal that will be considered, all filed by Democrats

GOP Rep James Tipton, legislative sponsor of Bevin's bill, says it doesnt "force" agencies out of retirement system.

Though if they do, they will have lower pension contribution payments, even lower if they move employees in the pension system into 401k-type retirement plans

Tipton: "there are no good choices"

Dem Rep. Ruth Ann Palumbo asks Tipton why bill was filed in the House? (Dems believe that this bill is an appropriations bill...which are supposed to start in the House....and which require 60 votes instead of 51 votes to pass in non-budget years like 2019)

Rep. Joe Graviss, who sponsored the Democratic proposal that was killed over the weekend, notes that Bevin's proposal will short Kentucky's pension fund by about $827 million

Graviss: "There are very real inviolable contract issues with HB1" Dems say this bill would illegally freeze pensions of employees.
GOP reps say: 1. employees of these agencies aren't technically state employees and 2 the state is allowed to tinker w/ their benefits going forward

Graviss criticizes the "non-severability clause" in Bevin's pension bill. If a court finds any part of the bill illegal, then the whole thing gets tossed, including the part that provides "relief" to agencies

Graviss asks House to consider an amendment, which would get rid of the non-severability part of Bevin's bill.

House Speaker Osborne rules that it's not in line w/ Bevin's special session proclamation, which requires the bill to have a non-severability clause"

Graviss tries to bring up another amendment, gets killed too. Same reason, out of line w/ Bevin's tightly-worded agenda for what lawmakers are allowed to consider during this special session

House Minority Leader Rocky Adkins objects to these amendments getting killed, says that Bevin's narrow special session call is out of line with parliamentary rules...House Speaker Osborne overrules

GOP Rep. James Tipton arguing why HB 1 doesn't violate workers' contract rights by freezing their pension benefits, moving them into 401ks

"I don't know how we can make a promise for future benefits"

GOP Rep. Jason Nemes outlining how the Ky Bar Association was allowed to exit the pension system in 2015 and the Ky Supreme Court had to sign off on it

Dem Rep. Buddy Wheatley says it's "very likely" Bevin's proposal will be challenged in court because it prevents employees from accruing future pension benefits.

Wheatley asks why HB 1 explicitly bans agencies exiting the pension system from enrolling their employees in a new defined benefit system

GOP Rep. James Tipton talking about why Kentucky adopted more pessimistic assumptions for pension investments and payroll growth, which requires agencies to put more money in "we were just fooling ourselves...we weren't making the full payment"

Dem Rep. Jeff Donohue asks if employees at agencies that exit the pension system will ever be able to recoup the money they would have otherwise earned.

Tipton: "if they stay with that employer, there will probably be a reduction"

Dem Rep. Chris Harris says he supports keeping employees at regional universities in defined benefit plan (that's a conventional pension plan...one that guarantees payments from retirement until death)

GOP Rep. Jerry Miller says Bevin's proposal "simply gives options to avoid layoffs, to avoid bankruptcies"

Osborne just gave a rare gavel-down on a Republican lawmaker. Rep. Jerry Miller was complaining that Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear would likely sue over this bill

Dem Rep. Maria Sorolis: most mid-career employees at these agencies don't make enough money to make meaningful contributions towards their 401ks

GOP Rep. Jim DuPlessis praises Bevin's proposal. Says it will discourage state agencies from re-classifying their employees as contractors to get them out of the pension system

Dem Rep Derrick Graham asks lawmakers to think about employees who will be moved into less-generous retirement plans.
"Many will leave their jobs. And I can't blame them. If someone told me in the middle years of my teaching that I would have to start a new retirement account..."

Dem. Rep Angie Hatton says that retirement board's change in key pension assumptions were "drastic."

Says it was done intentionally in order to make agencies "beg for relief, even if it meant destroying the retirement system they were promised"

Hatton calls the surging pension costs for regional universities/ quasi agencies a "manufactured crisis"

"Manufactured for the purpose of leading these folks to a private retirement system"

Hatton outlines the three ways Democrats think this bill might be illegal:

1. violates contract rights for employees by moving them from pension system into 401ks

2. Needs more votes than Republicans think it does (3/5ths instead of majority)

3. Bevin's call too specific

Hatton proposes an amendment that would simply freeze agencies' contribution rates for the next year.

House Speaker Osborne says this is one of the 12 items in Bevin's agenda for the special session, but doesn't include the other 11, so it gets struck down.

Dem Rep. Mary Lou Marzian on the 7,000 employees at the "quasi" agencies that could have their pension benefits altered:
"These are your neighbors, these are your friends. And we're talking about them like we're going to stick them out in the cold with this bill"

Dem Rep. Joni Jenkins calls Bevin's proposal "dangerous" and says lawmakers need to come back to the bargaining table to find a different solution

Dem Rep. Charles Booker says that Bevin's proposal is not the best proposal for "the least among us, the most vulnerable people"

"A lot of Kentuckians are not heard in decisions that affect their lives."

Dems and Repubs in the legislature have different ideas of what the "inviolable contract" is

GOP Rep James Tipton: it protects pension benefits that have "already been earned" (ie, you can change going forward)

Dems say that it gives rights to pension benefits going forward

Granted, employees hired since 2014 have already not been protected by the "inviolable contract," that change was made during 2013 legislative session.

Dem. Rep. Cherlynn Stevenson worried about how Bevin's proposal will affect overall health of pension system by moving people out of it
"I'm personally worried what that will do to the overall system when we have fewer people paying in."

Dem. Rep. Lisa Willner says she's worried that some community mental health centers won't be able to afford to "buy out" of the pension system under Bevin's proposal

Minority Leader Rocky Adkins raises the big question...is this an appropriations bill? How many votes does it take to pass?

Osborne rules that it only needs 51 votes

Lawmakers are explaining their votes and this isn't official yet, but bill right now has *exactly enough* to pass

Rep. Koenig comes in at the last second to vote in favor. He had previously been against the bill

Still says "not as good as the bill we had."

Ky House narrowly passes Bevin's pension bill 52-46

9 of the 61 Ky House Republicans voted against: Brenda, Frazier, Goforth, Hoover, Regina Huff, Scott Lewis, McCool, Stewart, Turner.

All 37 Dems present voted against, 2 were absent--Westrom and Gentry

Here's the official vote count