SB-200, was introduced in the Colorado Senate by Senator Jack Tate on March 7. The fund is projected to be $30-80 billion short of the money needed to meet its obligations over the long term.

The bill, which has bipartisan support, makes many changes, but probably not enough to actually make PERA fully funded. Changes include increasing the age of retirement, limiting the cost of living increases, increasing the number of years used to calculate actual benefits, and increasing the contributions from employees and employers. Probably the most controversial change is opening up the opportunity for employees to take a defined contribution plan rather than the defined benefit plan.

The bill has a long way to go to become law, and many changes are expected, so it is still too early to know how far SB-200 will go to reform the deficiencies of the current Public Employee Retirement Association in Colorado.