House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

As we all know, the Public School Employees' Retirement System (PSERS) is specifically provided for our state employees including government workers, schoolteachers, and board members of state affiliated committees. You may also know that historically Pennsylvania has made exceptions and added other categories of employees to the system.

Which organizations and which members of those organizations are eligible to join our Commonwealth pension programs becomes an important question, especially as these programs are a vital part of recognizing and supporting public employees.

To that end, I will introduce legislation to clarify the membership eligibility of PSERS for new non-public employees from state-related organizations while simultaneously guaranteeing the continued eligibility of those presently in the program. Membership in PSERS should, and must, be reserved for those who are employees of the public employee pension program. This legislation would not remove or penalize anyone currently enrolled in the program.

Please consider co-sponsoring this legislation to ensure that our pension systems continue to provide secure and productive retirements to eligible members.