Md. GOP legislators offer plans for restructuring state pensions
By Bryan P. Sears
February 16, 2017
Sue Esty, legislative director for AFSCME Council 3, said the plan could hurt current state employees in an effort to save money.
“It is really taking away a promise that they will get a certain benefit at a certain time with a certain formula. It does save money from a budgetary perspective by taking people out of that plan that included those progress, but I would argue that it does that on the backs of employees.”
Esty agreed that 10-year vesting is too much and urged legislators to study what a 5-year vesting plan would cost the state. In the end, Esty said, the funding issues are likely to be solved over time.
“I’ve been around for a while and I remember the times when there were low returns on the plan in the ’80s and ’90s … but overall it goes up again,” Esty said. “It’s not beyond the scope of possibility that it will go up again.”