Florida Bill Increasing Current Retiree Benefits Faces Backlash

TALLAHASSEE, FL --- A new Republican-backed bill altering cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for retirees is dividing conservative voters. Despite passing its first committee unanimously, Florida citizens worry about unequal benefits and slowed pension funding.

HB 151, proposed by Rep. Demi Busatta Cabrera (R-Coral Gables), aims to reset the annual COLA to 3 percent for all retired Florida Retirement System (FRS) pension plan members.

"This change could again expose the state to unpredictable costs and set back the state's pension funding progress," stated Skylar Zandar, State Director of Americans for Prosperity-Florida, a libertarian-conservative group founded by the Koch brothers. "This bill will undo critical reforms made in 2011 that have made the FRS system viable. Now is not the time to jeopardize those reforms, which have worked so well."

The group continued, referencing a 2011 statute that removed COLA for members who joined after July 1, 2011, "This bill will add billions of dollars in risk to the FRS system. We urge Florida lawmakers to oppose this shortsighted and perilous proposal.”

According to the bill analysis' Fiscal Comments, the estimated increased employer contribution rates for restoring COLA would be around $2.4 billion.

The Famuan reported that while current retirees will likely profit from this benefit increase, future retirees may suffer from unequal benefits and increasing inflation rates: "My only concern is the level of the increase," Diane Alexander, a recently retired educator told the Famuan, "Being a former educator, my percentage of increase will be a lot less than those in law enforcement or the military. Where is the fairness? Inflation and cost of living increases affect all of us, and now at all levels.”

The bill, however, states that it is a "legitimate state purpose" to grant retired employees with “fair and adequate benefits that are managed, administered and funded in an actuarially sound manner."

HB 151 is now in the House Appropriations Committee. Its companion bill, SB 242, has yet to make it to committee.