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--> --> House panel mulls bills to rid Oregon of PERS system SALEM (AP) - An interim House panel agreed to have bills drafted for consideration by the 2003 Legislature to create a different pension plan for new public employees. The agreement was a preliminary step as the House Special Task Force on PERS Sustainability and Accountability wound up work Wednesday, and doesn't mean all members of the committee endorse the proposal. The bills are expected to join scores and maybe hundreds of others to be introduced as lawmakers seek to reduce soaring costs and rein in a deficit in the Public Employees Retirement System. "There is a clear need for a successor plan to include at a minimum all new employees," said Rep. Tom Knopp, R-Bend, the task force chairman. Knopp will be House majority leader in the legislative session that begins Jan. 13. He asked that bills for two options be drafted. One proposal would create a traditional "defined benefit" with pensions determined by earnings and years of service and funded by employers and workers. The other option would establish a "defined contribution" system similar to 401(k) plans offered in private business, in which pension accounts are funded mostly by employee investments. The current PERS plan combines a defined benefit feature with an option allowing employees to put part of their accounts in a stock fund. To cut costs, Knopp's new proposal would eliminate in a new retirement plan two provisions that swell employee pensions. One provision guarantees that employees be paid a minimum 8 percent annual return on their nonstock accounts, even when PERS doesn't earn that much on its investments. The other feature requires government employers to match the workers' accounts at retirement. Those terms have allowed hundreds of workers with high stock account earnings to retire with pensions larger than the salaries they made while working. This "hybrid plan is part of our problem" as PERS faces a projected long-term shortfall topping $15 billion, Knopp said. "We need to have a plan with certainty for both employees and employers," he said. The PERS system covers 294,000 current, past and retired state and local government employees. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing