Supplemental Information on Prefunding Retirement and New Health Benefit Plans

Posted: 2/4/2015

Last month, Gov. Jerry Brown made a speech revealing details of the 2015 budget. In this proposed budget, he mentioned two items that piqued the interest of state supervisors, managers and excluded employees: prefunding retirement and new health benefit plans. These proposals have the potential to impact state workers for decades to come. An article posted recently by the Sacramento Bee describes these plans in greater detail.

The proposed plan, effective Jan 1 2016, would mandate an unspecified cash contribution to offset retiree insurance benefits that employers and employees would split. Taxpayers would have to pitch in millions of dollars each year to prefund retirement benefits.

In addition, the bill would require CalPERS to offer a high-deductible health insurance plan plus a low-cost Medicare-supplement plan for retirees. Current retirees could see their insurance subsidy decline if a considerable amount of state workers opt for the high-deductible plan.

For detailed information on these bills, read the full text of the state budget bill proposals from the State Department of Finance.