HELENA- Week two of the legislative session has concluded and there are eighty working days left before the 2023 legislative session ends. The Montana House of Representatives has been off to a productive start.
I serve on the State Administration, Education, and Local Government committees. This past week I presented two bills on behalf of the Teacher Retirement Board. The first was to clarify and update language in the law. The second was a “working retiree” bill to address the shortage of public school teachers and superintendents, especially in rural areas. It gives schools more flexibility to rehire teachers and administrators. I also presented a bill brought forth from a pension study conducted by the State Administration and Veterans Affairs interim committee. It is a bill to address funding shortfalls in the Highway Patrol Officers’ Retirement System (HPORS), the Sheriffs’ Retirement System (SRS), and the Game Wardens’ and Peace Officers’ Retirement System (GWPORS), which includes Department of Corrections officers. The bill adds one time only (OTO) money into those pension systems so they amortize in 30 years or less. It also increases employer contributions to GWPORS so that employer and employee contributions now match. Many of the bills we have heard so far are part of Governor Gianforte’s “Red Tape Relief” initiative to delete parts of the law no longer used and to streamline how business is accomplished within state agencies.
Lastly, we are lucky to have a budget surplus during this session, so we are working on priorities to best employ that money for Montanans now and in the future.
