The 2024 legislative session commenced January 10 and will continue for 120 days.
Below you’ll find summaries of proposed legislation affecting Colorado PERA. The status of each bill will be updated regularly.
Last updated: April 26, 2024
HB24-1044
Additional PERA Service Retirees for Schools
Summary: Under current law, employers in the School and Denver Public Schools (DPS) divisions can designate up to 10 retirees who are permitted to work up to 140 days or 916 hours per calendar year without reductions to their PERA benefits. This bill would allow districts with more than 10,000 students to designate an additional retiree for each thousand students over 10,000.
Sponsors: Rep. Eliza Hamrick, Rep. Rick Taggart, Sen. Chris Hansen
Status: Passed; signed into law April 19
SB24-013
District Attorneys’ Salaries
Summary: Would increase the minimum compensation for district attorneys and assistant district attorneys, as well as allow the board(s) of county commissioners of counties that make up a judicial district, in consultation with the district attorney, to make a one-time irrevocable election to require an assistant district attorney to become a member of the PERA Defined Benefit Plan.
Sponsors: Sen. Bob Gardner, Sen. Nick Hinrichsen, Rep. Barbara McLachlan
Status: Passed Senate Judiciary Committee Feb. 5; referred unamended to Senate Appropriations Committee
SB24-044
Public Employees’ Retirement Association Retiree Refundable Income Tax Credit
Summary: Would create a temporary tax credit of $700 for qualified PERA retirees in tax years 2024 and 2025. To qualify, a retiree would have to be 65 or older at the end of the tax year during which the credit is claimed, and have annual gross income of no more than $38,000 for single tax filers or $76,000 for joint filers.
Sponsors: Sen. Chris Kolker, Sen. Chris Hansen, Rep. Eliza Hamrick, Rep. Cathy Kipp
Status: Passed House Finance Committee April 10; referred unamended to House Appropriations Committee
SB24-099
Public Employees’ Retirement Association Employment after Retirement for Rural Schools
Summary: Under current law, rural school districts can declare a critical shortage of qualified teachers, school bus drivers, food service workers, school nurses, or paraprofessionals and hire PERA retirees to fill those positions without having their retirement benefits reduced. This bill adds principals and superintendents to the list of qualified positions.
Sponsors: Sen. Rod Pelton, Sen. Janice Marchman, Rep. Ty Winter, Rep. Barbara McLachlan
Status: Passed; signed into law April 11
HB24-1159
Contracted Private Employee Exclusion from Public Employees’ Retirement Association
Summary: Imposes a moratorium until June 30, 2025, during which PERA is prohibited from including in its membership an employee of a third-party private entity that contracts with a public entity to perform services.
Sponsor: Rep. Don Wilson
Status: Postponed indefinitely
HB24-1169
Repeal Divest from Companies with Israel Prohibitions Law
Summary: In 2016, the general assembly enacted HB16-1284, which requires PERA to periodically identify all companies that have economic prohibitions against Israel and to divest all direct holdings of those companies from its assets and prohibits PERA from acquiring new direct holdings in any of those companies. This bill would repeal the statutory provisions enacted in HB16-1284.
Sponsor: Rep. Elisabeth Epps
Status: Postponed indefinitely
SB24-169
State Firefighter Public Employees’ Retirement Association Job Classification
Summary: Would expand the definition of State Trooper for the purpose of PERA benefits to include duly sworn employees of the Division of Fire Prevention and Control in the Department of Public Safety whose duties include structural or wildfire management, wildfire response, live-fire training, or wildfire leadership, as determined by the executive director of the department.
Sponsor: Sen. Tony Exum
Status: Passed House State, Civic, Military, & Veterans Affairs Committee April 23; referred unamended to the Committee of the Whole
SB24-186
County Coroner & Deputy Coroner Public Employees’ Retirement Association Eligibility
Summary: Would expand the definition of State Trooper for the purpose of PERA benefits to include county coroners and deputy coroners.
Sponsor: Sen. Janice Marchman
Status: Passed Senate; introduced in House April 23
HB24-1427
Public Employees’ Retirement Association Study Conducted by an Actuarial Firm
Summary: Requires the state auditor, in cooperation with PERA, to contract an independent actuarial firm experienced with public pension plans to conduct a comprehensive study comparing the cost and effectiveness of the current hybrid Defined Benefit plan design to alternative plan designs, as well as providing an analysis of certain aspects of PERA’s current Defined Benefit and defined contribution plans.
Sponsors: Rep. Shannon Bird, Rep. Rick Taggart, Sen. Jeff Bridges, Sen. Rachel Zenzinger
Status: Passed; signed into law April 18
Hybrid defined benefitPERA’s Defined Benefit (DB) Plan is “hybrid” in that it combines features of a traditional DB plan with some of the features of defined contribution (DC) plans, such as portability.Postponed indefinitelyA motion that halts all further consideration of a bill. In practice, this means the bill has failed.Defined benefitAlso known as a pension, this is a type of pooled retirement plan in which the plan promises to pay a lifetime benefit to the employee at retirement. The plan manages investments on behalf of members, and the retirement benefit is based on factors such as age at retirement, years of employment and salary history.Defined benefitAlso known as a pension, this is a type of pooled retirement plan in which the plan promises to pay a lifetime benefit to the employee at retirement. The plan manages investments on behalf of members, and the retirement benefit is based on factors such as age at retirement, years of employment and salary history.Defined contributionA type of individual retirement plan in which an employee saves a portion of each paycheck (along with a potential employer match) and invests that money. The employee’s retirement benefit is based on their account balance at retirement. A 401(k) is a type of defined contribution plan.
Just two more bills that enrich a few members at the expense of all members (and state pension funds)… any chance PERA Board & Staff (PERA B.S.) might push the legislators peddling these bills to make an appropriation to PERA to actually fund these changes? Unlike PERA B.S.
letting Senator Will Perry’s bill slide last year (to allow wildlife officers to retire earlier under state trooper PERA classification), without an appropriation to finance it, except on the backs of retirees!
Blah ba blah
Nothing more dangerous than a democrat politician determining the definition of fairness.
A COLA that meets the needs of ALL retirees is more important than benefits/changes that line the pockets of very few. Why does the decreasing dollar value of PERA pensions never make it to the table?
HOW TO PROPOSE LEGISLATION? ATTEND YOUR CAUCUS!
Legislative relief might be secured through one of only two ways PERA beneficiaries have. Not waiting for PERA Board & Staff (PERA B.S.) to do anything but by contacting your elected representatives in a way they’ll be hard pressed to continue to ignore you (except when looking to rob you). ATTEND YOUR LOCAL CAUCUS!
PERA retirees should attend March 9th neighborhood caucuses, after which attendance should be known by mid-March along with the strength to sway the majority party’s priorities for this year’s General Assembly; and test everyone’s political will in April at the state assembly/convention; but regardless, lawsuits (the other way to impact legislation) won’t start forming until after Sine Die (May 9th., last day of the session). Watch “The PERA SITE” fbook page or email ‘handsoffmypera@hotmail.com’ to get or share information about pending litigation, after Memorial Day. In the meanwhile, those attending local caucus are encouraged to contact me at ‘handsoffmypera@hotmail.com’ to say how it went and if they’ll be an Alternate or Delegate to their county assembly.
REGISTER WITH A PARTY BY FEBURARY 16 AND ATTEND YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD CAUCUS ON MARCH 9. Note: Caucuses along the front range for Democrats are the ones that matter (because they’re the majority party). PERA members need to attend and get elected as delegates and alternates!
Happy MLK Day – Guy
P.S. – If you attend parades and political rallies, politely needle your elected statehouse representatives to start actually representing you by restoring a fair PERA COLA (don’t settle for anything less than 3.5%).
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No way in hell am I registering w/ a party in this state! I enjoy being an independent and the power and flexibility it brings.
Still waiting to see serious effort made to prohibit withholding our paid SSN benefits many paid in over pre PERA service and withhold SSN widow benefits to surviving partners who have PERA accounts. At a minimum they should return every SSN penny paid to SSN to those of us being held hostage by this act of theft.
I completely agree. My husband worked his whole life for that SS benefit only to have them take it away from me when he passed at 68 years old.
Completely agree. How many members have worked other jobs out of state and contributed to SS, yet have SS benefits denied? Legions! I would love to at least get out of social security what I put in – with a little interest.
Yes I also have 22credits and got denied ss sure wold be nice to atleast get that money back.
If you’re talking about the Government Pension Offset (GPO) for widows and widowers and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), which reduce Social Security benefits because you have a government pension; then you should be very upset; but you’re barking up the wrong tree by posting about it here on PERA On The Issues (P.O.T.I.).
You need to contact your U.S. Senators and the Republican members of Congress from Colorado to implore them to support The Fairness in Social Security Act! Of course, Colorado’s Republican congressional delegation thinks Social Security is welfare, and they only believe in Corporate Welfare For The Rich!
P.O.T.I. only occasionally mentions the GPO and WEP issues to trick retirees into thinking they care about us and get us to waste time posting about it here, when you should be contacting your federal representatives. What all PERA beneficiaries should be doing is contacting their elected Colorado state house elected representatives and demanding a 3.5% annual COLA (and write comments about that on P.O.T.I)!
Contact your US Senators & CongressionalRepresentative, no matter where you live! We don’t all live in Colorado. Ask your friends and relatives to do so as well.
YES! It’s mostly Republicans in Congress (right now in the House) that are holding the Fairness in Social Security Act hostage! This is the best shot the Fairness in Social Security Act has ever had… and it’s an election year! Be polite, but be firm, tell them repealing WEP & GPO is the ONLY ISSUE THAT DETERMINES HOW YOU VOTE (the stupid politicians don’t listen to reason, but they have staff that count the number of contacts they get on various issues and that’s the primary focus group they all use).
SB 24 004 is a dumb idea. It is unfair. It is of minimal help to anyone. It avoids the issue that PERA and the general assembly have both supported policies to harm retirees. Democrats used to care about these issues, but they have now moved on to more important constituencies…the homeless, the illegals and the addicts.
Turning the TABOR refund into a welfare payment works great. PERA is next with SB24-004.
The only ones, as far as I can see, that are benefiting from the last several years of State
legislation, which PERA supports, is for the Upper Management of PERA! The average PERA retiree is losing purchasing power every year, due to the antics of our Legislatures! Try living on 25% of Social Security, 50% WEP, because of total disability taken too early! See how grateful you would be if you were struggling to get by with a 1% increase each year! Before taxes eat it up!
Each year?
PERA retirees are now approaching a 20% deficit in our take home pay due to the inflation in the past 3 years. We get our measly raises every two years! Just waiting for the property tax bill to put us under water more! How about a COLA raise like Social Security. Colorado has one of the highest COLA increases in the US. 2023 shows almost 6% increase.
How about the legislature take up PERA retirees well being!
Absolutely right. I retired in June of 2022 and will not get the 1% raise until 2025. Meanwhile inflation ate up about 20% of my actual income. Ouch!
Wait so the people at the top get more and everyone else just sit and say good for them??? No Give money to the bottom of the scale who need it.
We’re all at the bottom thanks to Bidenomics but the economy is great. Don’t you see it?
How does the legislature expect PERA retirees to live on 1% increases when the cost of everything is going higher and higher. We worked hard and now we are treated like we don’t exist.
Exactly. They just don’t care.
It’s not their problem. They have higher egalitarian priorities dictated by their special interests.
That’s why we should organize. It’s easy to complain that the legislature doesn’t care, but if we all raise our voices, they’ll have a harder time ignoring us.
To send a message that the politicians can’t ignore, simply attend your Democratic or Republican March 9th neighborhood caucus, and propose a resolution that the Genal Assembly (the legislature) restore the 3.5% PERA COLA. More importantly, run to be a delegate to the next level!
– Guy-
-handsoffmypera@hotmail.com–
What is the possibility of sponsoring or advocating legislation to increase the C-O-L-A to, at least, match that of Social Security?
While the COLA is appreciated, one percent is hardly what we were lead to understand back in the day. It is hardly enough to keep up with inflation.
My first several years of retirement the COLA was 3.5% and that, in it self, while better than 1%, it would only be enough to offset the present inflation rates of 3 to 4 percent. The GA needs to understand that we need help.
The legislature is awash in money thanks to the local property tax windfall. What you pay in additional 2023 local property tax the legislature can now spend somewhere else at their discretion. Pera retiree’s are locked into meager COA’s until 2048, so kick back and be patient.