Committee to Explore Costs of Public Retirement Alternatives

The State Administration and Veterans' Affairs Interim Committee of the Montana Legislature will meet next week to hear about the estimated costs of alternative designs for the state’s largest public retirement systems.

The bipartisan committee of lawmakers will meet Tuesday, Aug. 17, at 8 a.m. in Room 137 of the State Capitol in Helena. The public is welcome to attend and will have a chance to comment on the work of the committee.

A complete meeting agenda and other meeting documents are available on the legislative Web site at www.leg.mt.gov/sava.

The committee has spent more than a year looking into ways to improve and reduce the costs of the Montana Public Employees’ Retirement System and Teachers’ Retirement System. It has identified some potential alternatives and will hear from actuaries about their estimated costs.

The committee also will consider requesting a bill draft to amend the Montana Administrative Procedures Act to allow e-mail notification of proposed rulemaking and administrative rule review.

The meeting will be broadcast over the Internet at www.leg.mt.gov and on the state public access television network, TVMT. To find a list of local TVMT stations, visit www.leg.mt.gov/tvmt.

For more information, contact Rachel Weiss, committee staff, at rweiss@mt.gov or 406-444-5367.

The SAVA committee is chaired by Sen. Joe Tropila, D-Great Falls. Other members are Sen. Joe Balyeat, R-Bozeman; Rep. Tim Furey, D-Milltown; Rep. Gordon Hendrick, R-Superior; Rep. Pat Ingraham, R-Thompson Falls; Sen. Larry Jent, D-Bozeman; Sen. Dave Lewis, R-Helena; and Rep. Robert Mehlhoff, D-Great Falls.