Neither state Rep. Jim DeCesare nor state Rep. Jody Richards are definite yes votes on the current version of a bill backed by Gov. Matt Bevin to remake the state’s troubled pension system.

“I don’t think this piece of legislation is right yet,” said DeCesare, a Republican from Bowling Green. “It still needs a lot of work and a lot of tweaking.”

Richards, a Democrat from Bowling Green, agreed. He said he can’t envision the bill released Oct. 27 by Bevin passing in its current form.

“I would be surprised if there are not major changes to the plan that was rolled out last week before we get to Frankfort,” he said.

State Reps. Michael Meredith, R-Oakland, and Steve Riley, R-Glasgow, and state Sens. Mike Wilson, R-Bowling Green, and C.B. Embry Jr., R-Morgantown, did not immediately return phone calls and messages seeking comment on the bill. 

State workers and public school teachers have been critical of the bill and have filled town hall meetings across the state to express dissatisfaction with the proposal to eventually end the pension system in favor of a 401(k)-style plan, according to The Associated Press.

Kentucky is at least $33 billion short of the money needed for pension payouts over the next 30 years, although some estimates put that figure much higher.

The Republican-led effort to pass a pension fix has been further complicated by a recent Courier-Journal report that claims House Speaker Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown, settled a sexual harassment claim by a member of his staff outside of court. The report is based on anonymous sources, and The Associated Press had not been able to confirm the allegations. House Republicans met Friday in private, then said Hoover has the “full support” of the GOP caucus.

DeCesare said he did not know enough about the situation to discuss it, but he praised Hoover’s performance as speaker. Lawmakers will keep moving forward with the bill, he said.

“I’ll just leave it at that,” he said.

According to an overview of Bevin’s 505-page proposed bill, new teachers and those who meet the retirement threshold of 27 years of service after July 1, 2018, would be moved into a 401(k)-style plan. Current teachers who meet the 27-year threshold on July 1, 2018, will be allowed to continue accruing benefits under their current plans for up to three years or move into a defined contribution plan.

Other changes call for employees to contribute an additional 3 percent of their salary to fund retiree health care, future cost-of-living increases in benefits for current retirees to be frozen for five years and cost-of-living adjustments for future retirees to begin after five years of retirement.

School districts can continue to pay for up to 30 percent of a retiring member’s sick leave until July 1, 2023, but after that date “payments for sick leave will not be utilized for benefit calculations.”

Richards said he supports reasonable changes for future hires entering the state pension system.

“I certainly favor that, and I think most people do because people are living longer,” he said.

State Rep. Wilson Stone, D-Scottsville, said the bill “needs a lot of work still.” 

Stone said there are several tweaks he hopes are made to the bill, including the five-year suspension of cost-of-living increases. Teachers do not participate in Social Security and therefore don’t receive cost-of-living adjustments through it, Stone said. 

However, Stone said it would be premature for state employees to retire early without seeing how the changes take shape. 

“We need to get through the discussion phase, and we need to see where we are,” he said. 

DeCesare said he would like to see changes to the bill, including removing the mandatory 3 percent increased contribution from employees’ salaries.

“Right off, I’d like to see the 3 percent go away,” he said. “I just don’t think that’s right. I think it needs to go away.”

Bevin has said the money would help pay retiree health benefits, but on Wednesday Hoover and Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer told reporters the move was meant to save the state money rather than put more money into the fund, according to The Associated Press. 

DeCesare said he also takes issue with a proposed change that would require future retirees to suspend their pension to accept a full-time position in the public sector for the duration of their re-employment. “Full-time” refers to more than 100 hours worked per month, according to an overview of individual plans available at www.pensions.ky.gov.

DeCesare described the bill as “a starting point,” and said he hasn’t “talked to one legislator that supports the current version, including myself.”

However, DeCesare insisted that lawmakers must work toward a solution.

“We’ve got to do something to make this where we protect those that are in the pension system and those that are retired,” he said.