House member proposes legislator pensions no longer be in separate system

broken piggy bank with coins isolated on white background.

A bill to eliminate the retirement fund for state legislators and instead put them under the same plan as state workers has been pre-filed by freshman state Rep. Daniel Elliott.

Elliott, R-Gravel Switch, has filed legislation for the upcoming session that would move investments for legislator pensions into the Kentucky Employee Retirement System (KERS) instead of the Judicial Retirement System, which is often criticized for having a better funding level than the other large pension systems in the state without the same levels of transparency.

“Of all things to have public transparency and accountability, the retirements of legislators ranks among the top,” said Elliott, who opted out of receiving a legislative pension when he was elected in April 2016. “It is my hope that legislators in Frankfort will realize the use of these hard-earned tax dollars should not be wasted, and the only way we can ensure that is complete and total transparency in the accounts that fund these elected officials’ retirements.”

Other pension bills already pre-filed for the 2017 session include a bill from Rep. James Kay, D-Versailles, to bring more transparency and oversight to the state’s pension systems. Also, Sen. Joe Bowen told The Bottom Line he also plans to re-file another transparency bill next year.

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Jacqueline Pitts
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