Rep. Tanya Vyhovsky: Continuing the fight for fair pension reforms| April 9, 2021
Friend,
This is Rep. Tanya Vyhovsky from Essex with your weekly legislative update. In the Gov Ops committee, we’ve been focused on a committee bill that will propose reforms to pension governance and the task force that oversees pensions. We’ve also made some great progress on decriminalizing opioid treatments and more this week. Keep reading to find out more!
Pension Governance Bill
Last week, speaker Krowinski announced that instead of pursuing her proposed pension plan, we will be assembling a task force to explore the issue further and offer suggestions to set us on a path towards a sustainable and just pension system. The House Government Operations Committee has been working on a committee bill since then to hammer out the details of this task force, as well as making some changes to the Vermont Pension Investment Committee (VPIC), which makes investment decisions for the pensions. It is anticipated that this bill will be voted out of committee next week.
The VPIC is a seven-person committee (the proposal would expand it to a ten-person committee) that makes decisions on how to invest and manage the pension funds. Currently, the actuarial rate of return is determined by the three retirement boards and the VPIC. The current proposal would grant this decision solely to the VPIC. Part of the reason why the unfunded liabilities ballooned this year is because the rate of return was lowered from 7.5% to 7%. I am hoping that we will agree that this decision cannot be made in a unilateral manner whenever the board decides. We need more voices, not fewer to check the powers of the committee to ensure that sound investment decisions are made with our pension funds and crises are not manufactured through changes in the rate of return.
The task force proposed in this bill would consist of 15 members: three from the Vermont House, three from the Vermont Senate, the Director of Retirement, the Commissioner of Financial Regulation, the Commissioner of Human Resources, two appointees from NEA, two appointees from VSEA, a school board member, and a member of the business community.
There are a few things about the taskforce makeup portion of the bill that I am hoping to alter:
Remove the member of the business community as they have no stakeholder interest
Add a member from the Vermont Troopers Association-- as a member of a special VSEA pension group, their voice is important
Add a member from the Vermont Judiciary-- as another member of a special VSEA pension group their voice is important
Add a third member from the VT NEA - to provide further balance between teacher and state employees systems
The six legislative representatives should be from the committee of jurisdiction on this issue- Government Operations- and should have tri-partisan representation in both chambers.
Remove the Commissioner of Financial Regulation-- their presence is not needed for the work of the task force and continues to skew the balance between labor and government
Remove the Director of Retirement, they are able to advise as needed but this process is an independent process and the treasurer’s office should not be involved
School board member should be appointed by the VSBA rather than the committee on committees
The stipulation that members of the task force cannot be beneficiaries of the pension must be removed
We should mandate the use of an independent, professional facilitator to support the task force to work together collaboratively
We need to further expand the mandates of the task force to examine both temporary and permanent revenue streams to fund the pensions, the impacts on workforce recruitment and retention, the impacts of changes on other state benefit systems, the impacts of changes on school district budgets.
Furthermore, we need to consider this issue as a three-legged stool that of course includes revenue and the pension system as discussed but also must include a broader look at where we find savings in this and other systems. Currently, the healthcare system cost is rising at an astronomical rate, and looking at savings within the post-employment benefits as well as larger statewide health systems are key. Vermont’s healthcare funding costs far exceed those of the rest of the nation and world and we need to address this as well.
The timeline of the task force as proposed is unnecessarily aggressive as it is charged to advise the legislature in January 2022. Given the impacts of COVID on our state and in particular on our state employees and teachers, we need to begin this work no earlier than July 1 and allow until November 1 for the task force to do a deep dive and full exploration of the many tasks on the table.
The fight to save the pension system is not over; I and the rest of the progressive caucus will continue to work on behalf of teachers and state employees to ensure that reforms to our system will be fair and just.
Last weekend, I spoke at a rally supporting just pension reforms and was joined by other members of the House Progressive Caucus
What else is happening in the statehouse?
Decriminalizing Opioid Treatment Drug: On Thursday, the House passed H.225, a bill that will decriminalize the possession of small amounts of buprenorphine without a prescription, which is used to treat opioid dependence. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen an increase in drug overdoses. Decriminalizing the possession of this potentially life-saving drug is a huge step forward in fighting the opioid crisis.
COVID-19 Relief Bill: We’ve been reviewing the COVID-19 relief bill, H.315, which allocates federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) to a number of different programs, including but not limited to:
Funds to provide housing and facilities necessary to provide safe shelter to lower-income and at-risk populations;
Funds to make existing housing and community-based service facilities providing mental health services more accessible, safe, and compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act or to expand capacity in community settings;
Support for organizations that help sew Americans, refugees, and immigrants;
Funds for the Vermont Food Bank;
Funding for various education programs;
Funding for broadband expansion
Climate Caucus: The climate caucus met on Thursday to identify four working groups for ARPA money to advise on how this money is invested in our climate future; those groups are to advise on school and municipal infrastructure, workforce development, food systems and regenerative agriculture, and equity.
Thank you for joining me for this week’s update! We’ve got a lot more to do before the legislative session ends- keep an eye out for more updates from your progressive Representatives!
In Solidarity,
Rep. Tanya Vyhovsky, Chittenden 8-1
Progressives in the News
Rep. Selene Colburn
How the House plan to reform Vermont’s pension system quickly unraveled- Xander Landen, VTDigger
House backs bill decriminalizing opioid treatment drug- Xander Landen, VTDigger
Rep. Tanya Vyhovsky
Rallies Continue as Employees Seek Proposal that Does Not Affect Their Pensions- Krystin Rae, WPTZ
Rep. Taylor Small
The Power of Community: Interview with Rep. Taylor Small- Khouri Lassiter, Victory Institute
