Senate Bill 3231 was just passed out of the Senate and has been referred to the House of Representatives State Affairs Committee, headed by Hank Zuber. The bill creates a direct appropriation of $110 million (per Senator Parker) into PERS, and it increases the employer contribution by .5% each year over the next 5 years for a total of a 2.5% increase. While we know getting the PERS-funded liability healthy will take more than that, MRPEA supports this bill. This is a good start. Further, the Parker bill provides for actuary advisors to be available for the PERS Board and makes no other changes to the PERS Board. It also allows for a new Tier 5 for the 2025 Legislative Session as needed to help the PERS system become healthy. The bill also ensures that no benefit changes will be made to current or retired employee’s benefits. We want our House members and Governor to support this bill. We also want to thank our Senators who supported this bill. Please make sure Representative Hank Zuber from Ocean Springs and the rest of the State Affairs Committee, as well as your State Representative, know that we need them to support this bill without changes!
Representative Zuber is the Chairman of the State Affairs Committee where Senate Bill 3231 is sitting right now. The names and contact information for the committee members are as follows:
Henry “Hank” Zuber III, Chairman – 228-875-4866(H), 228-875-1097(W), 601-359-3364(Capitol), hzuber@house.ms.gov, Republican-Jackson County
Robert L. Johnson III, Vice-Chair – 601-445-5690(H), 601-442-9371(W), rjohnson@house.ms.gov, Democrat- Adams, Franklin, Jefferson
Willie Bailey – 662-335-5310(H), 601-359-3363(Capitol), wbailey@house.ms.gov, Democrat – Washington, Greenville, MS
Donnie Bell – 601-359-3396 (Capitol), dbell@house.ms.gov, Republican – Itawamba, Tishomingo
Bryant W. Clark – 662-834-4074(H), 662-834-6133(W), 601-359-2845 (Capitol) bclark@house.ms.gov, Democrat – Attala, Holmes, Yazoo
Joey Hood – 662-547-9818(H), 662-285-4663(W), 601-359-2428 (Capitol) jhood@house.ms.gov, Republican – Attala, Winston, Choctaw, Webster
Kevin Horan – 662-226-1817(H), 662-226-2185(W), 601-359-3311 (Capitol) Republican – Grenada, Carroll, Holmes, Leflore, Tallahatchie
Jonathan Ray Lancaster 662-631-5065(H), jlancaster@house.ms.gov, Republican – Chickasaw, Pontotoc
Steve Massengill – 662-815-5000(W) 601-359-3353(Capitol) jmassengill@house.ms.gov, Republican – Benton, Lafayette, Marshall, Union
Jansen Owen – 601-746-5201(W), 601-522-3337(Capitol) jowen@house.ms.gov, Republican-Lamar, Pearl River -From Poplarville
Omeria Scott – 601-649-7677(H), 601-359-4084(Capitol) Democrat – Clarke, Jasper, Jones
Fred Shanks – 601-540-0041(H) fshanks@house.ms.gov, Republican – Rankin
Shanda Yates – 601-487-6997(W) syates@house.ms.gov, Independent – Hinds, Madison
Please also call your family and friends who are PERS members – both active and retired – and share this information. We will continue to post updates on the MRPEA website and Friends of PERS on Facebook.