Surprise pension bill surfaces and zips through General Assembly despite cries of stunned teachers

FRANKFORT, Ky. — In just a matter of hours Thursday Republicans in control of the Kentucky House and Senate unveiled - and zipped through to final passage - a new version of a controversial pension reform bill.

As about 200 stunned and furious teachers and other opponents chanted objections like "Shame on you" from outside the chambers, the House first passed the bill 49-46, and a few hours later the Senate passed it 22-15.

The bill now goes to the desk of Gov. Matt Bevin.

Passing a pension bill stands as the turning point of the 2018 legislative session, opening the way for passage of a state budget bill and perhaps a surprise tax reform bill during the remaining three days of the session.

The new pension bill first came into view Thursday afternoon when the House State Government Committee without warning resurrected a bill that seemed near death for three weeks, leaving teachers and other opponents slack-jawed and furious.

Morgan Taylor, a 28-year-old high school chemistry teacher from Rockcastle County, said she dashed to Frankfort after she saw the news that the pension bill had been revived. She said lawmakers had clearly not had time to even read the 291-page bill before being asked to vote.

The latest: After pension bill vote, Fayette County Public Schools announces it will be closed Friday

"As a teacher, I would never, ever give my students something that I haven't read myself," she said. "I think a select group of people know what's in this (bill) and everyone else is just expected to toe the line."

The new bill does not include some provisions that teachers found most objectionable in the previous version of the bill. It does not include any reduction in annual cost-of-living increases for retired teachers. And it would not change how long current teachers must work before being eligible for full retirement benefits.

But it does move future teachers from the current traditional pension plan with defined benefits into a new "hybrid" cash balance plan that includes features of both a traditional pension and a 401(k)-style savings plan. And it limits the impact of sick leave payments on retirement benefits to the amount of sick leave accrued as of Dec. 31, 2018.

More headlines

►Should professors go on strike to stop tenure changes? Some think so

►How two Louisville college dropouts in their 20s made a mint in Bitcoins

►Could Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin be preparing for a run at national office?

The House State Government Committee tacked the new pension bill onto Senate Bill 151, which originally dealt with "wastewater services," and passed it on an 11-7 vote over angry objections of minority Democrats, who complained they did not have time to read it.

"I'm concerned that what we're doing is illegal..." said Rep. Jim Wayne, D-Louisville. "We need an actuarial analysis.There is no actuarial analysis ... We have a 291-page document put before us without any input whatsoever from the stakeholders."

The teachers' union for the state’s largest school district immediately issued an urgent call for its members to travel to Frankfort and protest the bill.

“If you are an education employees (sic) or a supporter of public education and can possibly get to Frankfort IMMEDIATELY, please come NOW!!!” said a post on the Jefferson County Teachers Association’s Facebook page.

In a separate Facebook post, the union addressed social media rumors about a possible teacher walkout, should the pension bill pass. According to the post, the union has not sanctioned a walkout – yet.

“JCTA has called for job actions in the past and the situation may come to that again, but the Association certainly is NOT calling for such an action at this time.”

Small groups of teachers already in Frankfort on Thursday afternoon were quick to protest the committee's move.

Angry current and retired teachers, clad in bright red, began chanting “Vote them out” as lawmakers emerged from the crowded meeting where committee chairman Jerry Miller, R-Louisville, had refused Wayne's request to invite a representative of the teachers to speak.

"Jerry Miller needs to be voted out,” said Claudette Green, a retired teacher from Eastern Kentucky.

Because the abruptly called meeting was held in a small legislative conference room, security staff barred members of the public and closed the door once the room had filled, further angering teachers who were shut out.

“Anything that goes on behind closed doors ... anything like that that’s done in secret is never good,” said Anita Holbrook, a retired teacher from Carter County.

Earlier

► Mystery tax reform and a pension bill still in play as budget talks continue

► Bevin renews spat with teachers, saying pension opponents have a 'thug mentality'

► Bevin, it's appalling how much these 'selfish' Kentucky teachers give their kids

The teachers said the bill will significantly diminish benefits for future teachers and discourage young people from considering teaching as a career.

“How are you going to attract and keep good teachers in the state when they don’t have a retirement?” Holbrook asked.

Jim Carroll, president of the advocacy group Kentucky Government Retirees, said in a statement that, "Introducing a cobbled-together pension bill grafted to a sewage bill in the waning days of the session without actuarial analysis and an opportunity for meaningful feedback is an insult to stakeholders."

But the lawmakers who unveiled the bill in committee – Majority Leader Jonathan Shell, R-Lancaster, and Education Committee Chairman John "Bam" Carney, R-Campbellsville – insisted their process is legal and teacher concerns were taken into account.

"What we're trying to do here today is to make an attempt to put together all we have heard from stakeholders," Shell said. He said taxpayers are also stakeholders in any legislation intended to stabilize Kentucky's public retirement systems, which officially carry more than $43 billion in unfunded liabilities.

"We have a lot of people in this state that would like to go a lot further, and we have a lot of people in this state that would like to go not as far as this," Shell said.

Shell described the bill as "a grand compromise that we can live with."

During long debates on the House and Senate floors, Democrats raged about the fast-lane treatment by majority leaders, the diminished benefits for future teachers, and their inability to read the bill.

But Sen. Joe Bowen, the Owensboro Republican, noted the bill is greatly scaled back from prior versions because majority lawmakers listened to the outcry of teachers.

"This is an attempt to salvage the pension system. This is an attempt to keep the promises that have been made," Bowen said.

But Sen. Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville, said the scaled-back bill "does nothing" to reduce the state's unfunded pension liabilities while damaging benefits of future teachers and making the teaching profession less attractive to young people.

Carney said that passing the new pension bill will open the door for final passage of a different pension bill that would give relief to cities, counties and school districts from the soaring pension costs they face beginning July 1.

Top legislative leaders said it opens the way for much more.

House Speaker Pro Tem David Osborne, R-Prospect, told reporters late Thursday, "This issue was threatening to strangle the life out of important issues that remained in the session," Osborne said.

Now, he said, "I think we can move forward in a productive manner on the budget and tax reform." He said he "absolutely" believes that lawmakers will work to identify new sources of revenue in the three remaining days of the session.

Tom Loftus: tloftus@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @TomLoftus_CJ. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/toml. Deborah Yetter: 502-582-4228; dyetter@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @d_yetter. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/deborahy. Morgan Watkins: 502-582-4502; mwatkins@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @morganwatkins26. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/morganw.