SB 1049 has passed both houses and is awaiting the Governor's signature. The Governor has already stated publicly that she will sign the bill. SB 1049 diverts a portion of the contributions that public employees who are members of PERS make to their retirement accounts to the new employee pension stability account. This redirect will reduce retirement benefits of active Tier 1 members by roughly 7%, active Tier 2 members roughly 13%, and Tier 3 even higher.
We are members of the PERS coalition, a group of public employee unions that work together to protect public employee pensions in Oregon. The meetings to start the exploration of a lawsuit to challenge these cuts to member retirements will begin next week. I will report out as we learn more.