MRPEA Member Alert! As you may have heard, all PERS funding bills “officially” died on Tuesday, March 2. While this is disappointing, we want to express our appreciation to both the House and the Senate for actively working to fund PERS this year. We anticipate these efforts will continue during this year’s legislative session. We also extend our sincere gratitude to Senator Blount for his dedicated work to rectify Tier 5. However, we must stress that ultimately, neither the House nor the Senate plans funded the system in the way the actuaries have stressed the system needs to be funded. The legislature has been told repeatedly by the PERS staff, the PERS actuary, the PERS board, and MRPEA that additional funding is needed to sustain benefits for current and future retirees. The actuary recommends funding at the Actuarially Determined Contribution (ADC) level, which is estimated to bring the system to a 99% funded ratio by 2047. In contrast, legislative proposals like SB 2004 only projected a 68.7% funded ratio by 2047, creating a concerning 30% differential from what the actuary actually recommends. To this point, the plans of both the House and the Senate leave the system highly vulnerable. At a recent PERS board meeting, it was noted that, on average, PERS investments experience negative annual returns in two years out of every ten-year period. If the system experiences just a single 8% negative return in 2027, PERS's funded status under SB 2004 is projected to plummet from 56.7% at the end of 2025 down to just 40% in 2047. MRPEA will continue to urge the House and Senate to collaborate with the PERS Board, staff, and actuary to arrive at a funding plan that will truly stabilize PERS for its 373,393 members. This must include real solutions, such as cash infusions, dedicated revenue streams, and the continuation of incremental increases in the employer contribution rate. We need your help NOW! Please call your legislators and ask them to honor their commitment to PERS 373,393 members and fund the system based on what the actuary has said the system needs! Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann - (601) 359-3200 Speaker of the House Jason White - (601) 359-3300 Leave a message for any legislator with the Capitol switchboard - (601) 359-3770 Thank you for your consideration of this request.  Dr. Kathy Clayton MRPEA President