Filing deadline approaching on State Retirement/Pension Plans

Monday is the deadline to introduce legislation affecting state retirement/pension plans. I've been in discussions with several local teachers regarding the state contribution towards the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System vs. what the state contributes to other state employees in the Arkansas State Health Plan.

The two plans have roughly the same premium for retirees and the numbers are as follows:

Total Monthly Premium: $589.00

The state contribution for state employees is $419.17 for a monthly cost for the retiree being roughly $169.00.

The state contribution for public teachers is $157.70 for a monthly cost for the retiree being roughly $430.00.

I have a fiscal impact study in the works to see what the cost to the state would be to equalize the state contibution for teacher retirees to that of the state health plan. Unfortunately, I don't have time to wait on the numbers and need to file a shell bill -- we can debate the numbers and the merit later, but if this issue is going to be considered, legislation must be filed by Monday. I understand SB78 was filed by Joint Budget over in the Senate for the ATRS appropriation for the next biennium, and I haven't had time to review that (or the other two Senate bills related to teacher retirement) as of yet.