Among the whirlwind of new bills coming through this
legislative session, one of the more troubling is H.B.
486, by Brad Mayo (R - Oxford), and his cosponsors Rep. Chris Brown (R - Aberdeen)
and Rep. Jason White (R - Kosciusko), which permits public employees to opt out of the
Public Employee Retirement System. If it
becomes law, H.B. 486 could render an efficient service for state employees
unsustainable.
The bill would make it possible for any new public employees
to opt out of PERS, and would allow current contributors to bail upon passage,
potentially collapsing the “pot” of PERS funds.
This comes on the heels of the launch of KeepThemHonest.MS, a website made to
combat new attacks on PERS and built to hold legislators accountable on this
issue. If you haven’t checked it out, you can sign the petition, and get
connected there.