Category: Legislation & Governance

Legislature Passes Six PERA-Related Bills During 2026 Session

Posted on by Kurt Sevits

That’s a wrap on the 2026 legislative session. Over the course of 120 days, legislators introduced and debated more than 600 bills and approved a State budget for the next fiscal year.

Legislators also introduced seven bills and one resolution related to PERA. Of those seven bills, six passed and will become law, pending Governor Polis’ signature. Effective dates for passed bills vary and current law applies until the bills take effect.

For regular updates on legislation and other important topics, sign up for the biweekly PERA On The Issues newsletter.

Approved bills

  • House Bill 1026: Expanding Plan Options for PERA – Makes changes to PERA provisions related to purchasing service credit and PERA’s 401(k) and 457(b) plans. Under current law, PERA members can purchase service credit based on previous periods of employment; this bill allows for limited purchases of service credit for periods of unemployment. The bill also requires all PERA-affiliated employers to offer the PERAPlus 401(k) and 457(b) plans, in both pre-tax and Roth options, to their employees.
  • House Bill 1027: BOCES Definition & Executive Director – Under current state law, certain PERA retirees are allowed to return to work for a PERA-affiliated employer without facing a reduction in their PERA benefit. This bill adds executive directors of boards of cooperative services (BOCES) to the list of approved retirees.
  • House Bill 1146: Allow Approved Facility Schools Participate in Public Employees’ Retirement Association – Allows approved facility schools—programs that serve students with behavioral issues and other special needs—to apply for affiliation with PERA to provide retirement benefits to their employees.
  • House Bill 1400: Adjust Public Employees’ Retirement Association’s Allocations to Trust Funds – Gives PERA flexibility to allocate the State’s annual $225 million direct distribution to whichever division trust funds would help minimize the likelihood of triggering the Automatic Adjustment Provision, as well as redirect a portion of employers’ health care trust fund contributions to instead help pay off pension liabilities. Learn more about this bill.
  • Senate Bill 023: School Finance Act – The primary purpose of this bill is to establish public school funding for the 2026-2027 budget. It also adds vice principals, assistant principals, and assistant superintendents to the list of positions eligible to work after retirement without limits under the “critical shortage” designation.
  • Senate Bill 151: Modify Public Employees Retirement Association Allowed Affiliation and Board of Trustees – Expands PERA membership to include employees of DSST chartered under Denver Public Schools, which had previously been exempt from membership as part of the legislation authorizing the merger of Denver Public Schools Retirement System and PERA effective January 1, 2010, and also makes the ex officio Trustee from the Denver Public Schools Division a voting member of the PERA Board.

MORE: 2026 Proposed PERA-Related Legislation Status

House Bill 1062, which would have removed the cap on state income tax deductions for pensions and other annuity income, failed to make it out of committee.

In addition to the aforementioned PERA-related bills, the Legislature passed Senate Joint Resolution 016, which recognizes the importance of retirement security, encourages workers to seek out financial education to improve their retirement readiness, and highlights the importance of lifetime income options in the PERA Defined Contribution Plan and PERAPlus 401(k)/457 Plans.

Legislators also passed House Bill 1331, which suspends interim committee activity for 2026. That means legislative committees that typically meet in between sessions—such as the Pension Review Commission and Pension Review Subcommittee—will not meet this year.

Next steps

For any bills the Governor has not yet signed, he has 30 days after the session ends to take action. If the Governor doesn’t sign or veto a bill, it will automatically become law after the 30 days.

Legislature Passes Bill Giving PERA Allocation Flexibility

Posted on by Kurt Sevits

The Colorado General Assembly gave its approval to a bill that helps keep the PERA Defined Benefit Plan on track to meet its funding goal by giving PERA additional flexibility in how it allocates contributions to the Plan.

Legislators passed House Bill 1400, which now heads to Governor Jared Polis for action.

Background

In 2025, PERA’s actuaries conducted an analysis of the Automatic Adjustment Provision (AAP), the mechanism included in Senate Bill 18-200 that automatically adjusts member and employer contributions, retiree annual increases, and the State’s annual $225 million direct distribution based on PERA’s funding progress. The goal was to examine how well the AAP has been functioning so far and consider whether any proactive changes are warranted.

While the AAP has largely worked as intended, the actuaries identified two modifications to help reduce the chance of triggering automatic adjustments in the near future without jeopardizing our funding progress. Both changes involve giving PERA more flexibility in how it allocates contributions to the trust funds.

Flexibility in allocating the State’s direct distribution

Every year on July 1, the State of Colorado makes a direct payment of $225 million to PERA. Under current state law, PERA is required to allocate the $225 million to three of the five division trust funds (State, School, and Judicial) proportionally based on total payroll.

The division trust funds differ in their funding levels and some are closer to reaching full funding than others. This disparity is likely to continue, which results in the less-funded divisions having a disproportionate impact on the annual AAP calculation and triggering automatic adjustments if their contributions are not keeping up with the amount needed each year to reach full funding.

House Bill 1400 would allow PERA to allocate the State’s direct distribution on an actuarial basis, meaning the money will be deposited to whichever fund(s) would reduce the likelihood of triggering the AAP in the future.

Redirecting a portion of employer contributions to the health care trust fund

The second provision of the bill reduces employer contributions to PERA’s health care trust fund from 1.02% of employee salaries to 0.52%. The 0.50% reduction is then redirected to the pension trust funds to help pay down the unfunded liability.

The health care trust fund is much closer to full funding than the pension trust funds, so this change will make sure those contributions are going where they’re needed most. Employer rates would remain the same, with incrementally more money going to pay off the unfunded liability and keeping PERA on track for full funding.

What’s next?

If the Governor signs House Bill 1400 into law, the changes take effect July 1, 2026.

The 2026 legislative session is still underway and other PERA-related bills remain under consideration. Visit our 2026 Proposed PERA-Related Legislation Status article for the latest information.

Checking in on the 2026 Legislative Session So Far

Posted on by Kurt Sevits

We’re more than halfway through the 2026 legislative session, which kicked off in mid-January and will continue until mid-May. So far, state lawmakers have introduced nearly 500 bills that could become law.

For an update on this session’s legislative activity, we checked in with Michael Steppat, PERA’s Director of Public and Government Affairs. Throughout the session, Steppat, along with PERA executives, meets with legislators, educates them on and discusses PERA-related issues and policy, and testifies at bill hearings.

Can you start by updating us on PERA-related bills that have been introduced so far?

As of mid-March, legislators have introduced four PERA-related bills, one of which is still making its way through the General Assembly.

House Bill 1026 would make changes to PERA provisions related to purchasing service credit and expand access to the PERAPlus 401(k) and 457 plans. Under current state law, qualified PERA members can purchase service credit based on previous periods of employment, and this bill would allow for limited purchases based on periods of unemployment, such as taking time off to raise a child or care for a loved one. It would also require all PERA-affiliated employers to offer the PERAPlus 401(k) and 457 plans, in both pre-tax and Roth options, to their employees.

Many employers already offer these plans to their employees, which have competitive advantages compared to others available in the marketplace. The bill does not mandate that employees participate in them, and it allows employers to continue offering any other existing plans if they choose. That bill has passed the House and is now under consideration in the Senate.

House Bill 1146 would allow approved facility schools to apply for affiliation with PERA to provide retirement benefits to their employees. These are schools serving students whose needs aren’t being met in a regular classroom. That bill has passed.

House Bill 1027, which would allow executive directors of boards of cooperative services (BOCES) to return to work after retiring for unlimited amounts of time without facing a reduction in their PERA benefits, has passed. That bill was signed into law by Governor Polis on March 12.

MORE INFO: 2026 Proposed PERA-Related Legislation Status

Let’s talk about the State budget. As lawmakers work to cut spending and balance the budget, they’ve been discussing the potential privatization of Pinnacol Assurance. Can you explain more about that and why PERA is part of the conversation?

Pinnacol Assurance is a quasi-public entity that provides workers’ compensation coverage, serves as the State’s “insurer of last resort,” and is an affiliated employer in the State Division of PERA. The Governor’s Office has proposed to convert it to a private company and to use the proceeds of the State’s interest in Pinnacol for other priorities to help alleviate the budget shortfall. Pinnacol also wants to privatize so it can modernize and serve the needs of its customers, which may include expanding its business outside of Colorado, something it’s currently prohibited from doing.

The privatization of Pinnacol has been a point of discussion in many recent legislative sessions, and the reason PERA comes into play is because Pinnacol’s employees are public employees and therefore PERA members. If Pinnacol were to become a private entity, its employees could no longer be PERA members, and they and Pinnacol could no longer contribute to the Defined Benefit Plan, and so there would be a requirement for Pinnacol to disaffiliate from PERA.

That kind of conversion has financial implications for PERA, since those employees would still be entitled to the retirement benefits they’d earned prior to disaffiliation and given the current unfunded liability of PERA, there is a cost to disaffiliate. Under state law, any employer who disaffiliates from PERA must pay for its share of that unfunded liability. PERA’s actuaries calculate the cost of disaffiliation based on current law, which means using a 5.25% discount rate—PERA’s actuarial investment assumption rate (currently at 7.25%) minus 200 basis points, or 2%—to account for the inherent risks and ensure PERA has the assets to pay the earned benefits over time without that liability shifting to the rest of the State Division fund.

The potential conversion of Pinnacol to a private entity has also been the topic of ballot measures filed recently for the upcoming November election. We’ll continue to monitor this issue and ensure that if privatization moves forward, it won’t have any negative financial effect on PERA.

Are there other aspects of the budget process that might affect PERA?

The Joint Budget Committee is nearing the finish line when it comes to producing the State budget for the next fiscal year. The budget bill, known as the long bill, will be introduced later this month, and there will be a handful of companion bills that relate to the State budget.

The JBC is tasked with cutting hundreds of millions of dollars to produce a balanced budget, which is required by law, as the costs of providing certain governmental services has been increasing faster than what the State is allowed to keep and spend each year. That’s no easy task, and they’ve had to juggle many competing priorities throughout the process.

PERA doesn’t rely on the State budget for the administration or operating costs of the plan, but we always monitor the budget-writing process to watch for any potential impacts. Any changes to PERA contributions—either the State’s annual $225 million direct distribution to PERA or the State’s contributions as a PERA employer—would require separate legislation to go through the regular legislative process and be signed into law by the Governor.

The Governor had included in his budget proposal a temporary 1% reduction in the State’s contributions to PERA as an employer, but the Joint Budget Committee denied that request earlier in the session. We’re grateful that the Legislature remains committed to making consistent contributions to fund public employees’ retirement benefits.

READ MORE: Joint Budget Committee Rejects Proposal to Reduce PERA Contributions

What other legislative issues can we expect to come up between now and the end of the session?

We’re currently working with legislators on a companion bill to the long bill that we think will put PERA on even stronger footing as we make progress toward our funding goal.

PERA’s actuaries conducted a study into some potential changes that could reduce the likelihood of triggering the Automatic Adjustment Provision (AAP) that took effect with Senate Bill 200 in 2018. The AAP automatically adjusts member and employer contributions, the State’s direct distribution, and retiree annual increases based on our funding progress. 

We know those adjustments can be really challenging for our members and retirees, so the bill will include two proposals that are meant to make adjustments less likely in the near future—without jeopardizing our progress toward reaching full funding by 2048.

Those proposals include providing PERA flexibility to allocate the State’s annual $225 million direct distribution to whichever division trust funds would help minimize the likelihood of triggering automatic adjustments and redirecting a portion of employers’ health care trust fund contributions to instead help pay off pension liabilities. The health care trust fund is closer to full funding than the pension trust funds, so we want to make sure those contributions are going where they’re needed most and benefit the largest number of retirees.

It’s also likely that the Legislature will consider a bill suspending certain interim committee activities like they did last session, in order to save money in between sessions.

For the latest updates throughout the session, be sure to subscribe to the biweekly PERA On The Issues newsletter.

2026 Proposed PERA-Related Legislation Status

Posted on by Kurt Sevits

The 2026 legislative session commenced January 14 and concluded May 13.

Below you’ll find summaries and status information for proposed legislation that affects PERA and its members and retirees. We’ll update the status of each bill regularly and encourage you to subscribe to our biweekly newsletter for regular updates. Note that bill summaries describe each bill as introduced and may not reflect all changes.

Last updated: June 2, 2026

House Bill 1026

Expanding Plan Options for PERA

Summary: Would make changes to PERA provisions related to purchasing service credit and PERA’s 401(k) and 457(b) plans. Under current law, PERA members can purchase service credit based on previous periods of employment; this bill would allow for limited purchases of service credit for periods of unemployment. The bill would also require all PERA-affiliated employers to offer the PERAPlus 401(k) and 457(b) plans, in both pre-tax and Roth options, to their employees.

Sponsors: Rep. Bob Marshall, Rep. Eliza Hamrick, Sen. Chris Kolker

PERA position: Support

Status: Passed; signed by Gov. Polis June 1

House Bill 1027

BOCES Definition & Executive Director

Summary: Under current state law, certain PERA retirees are allowed to return to work for a PERA-affiliated employer without facing a reduction in their PERA benefit. This bill would add executive directors of boards of cooperative services (BOCES) to the list of approved retirees.

Sponsors: Rep. Tammy Story, Sen. Chris Kolker

PERA position: Monitor

Status: Passed; signed by Gov. Polis March 12

House Bill 1062

Expand Deduction for Retirement Benefits

Summary: Under current state law, individuals can deduct a portion of their pension or other annuity income from their taxable income, up to the applicable limit. This bill would remove all caps on the deduction beginning with the 2027 tax year.

Sponsors: Rep. Ron Weinberg

PERA position: Support

Status: Postponed indefinitely

House Bill 1146

Allow Approved Facility Schools Participate in Public Employees’ Retirement Association

Summary: Would allow approved facility schools—programs that serve students with behavioral issues and other special needs—to affiliate with PERA to provide retirement benefits to their employees.

Sponsors: Rep. Jacque Phillips, Rep. Eliza Hamrick, Sen. Chris Kolker, Sen. Cathy Kipp

PERA position: Support

Status: Passed; signed by Gov. Polis April 2

Senate Joint Resolution 016

Improve Retirement Readiness & Financial Well-Being

Summary: Recognizes the importance of retirement security, encourages workers to seek out financial education to improve their retirement readiness, and highlights the importance of lifetime income options in the PERA Defined Contribution Plan and PERAPlus 401(k)/457 Plans.

Sponsors: Sen. William Lindstedt, Rep. Rebekah Stewart

PERA position: Monitor

Status: Adopted

Senate Bill 151

Modify Public Employees Retirement Association Allowed Affiliation and Board of Trustees

Summary: Would expand PERA membership to include employees of DSST chartered under Denver Public Schools, which had previously been exempt from membership as part of the legislation authorizing the merger of Denver Public Schools Retirement System and PERA effective January 1, 2010, and would also make the ex officio Trustee from the Denver Public Schools Division a voting member of the PERA Board.

Sponsors: Sen. Chris Kolker, Sen. Julie Gonzalez

PERA position: Support

Status: Passed; signed by Gov. Polis May 28

House Bill 1400

Adjust Public Employees’ Retirement Association’s Allocations to Trust Funds

Summary: Would give PERA flexibility to allocate the State’s annual $225 million direct distribution to whichever division trust funds would help minimize the likelihood of triggering the Automatic Adjustment Provision, as well as redirect a portion of employers’ health care trust fund contributions to instead help pay off pension liabilities.

Sponsors: Rep. Emily Sirota, Rep. Rick Taggart, Sen. Jeff Bridges, Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer

PERA position: Support

Status: Passed; signed by Gov. Polis June 1

Senate Bill 023

School Finance Act

Summary: The primary purpose of this bill is to establish public school funding for the 2026-2027 budget. It also adds vice principals, assistant principals, and assistant superintendents to the list of positions eligible to work after retirement without limits under the “critical shortage” designation.

Sponsors: Sen. Chris Kolker, Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, Rep. Eliza Hamrick

PERA position: Monitor

Status: Passed; signed by Gov. Polis May 28

Joint Budget Committee Rejects Proposal to Reduce PERA Contributions

Posted on by Kurt Sevits

The State Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee reaffirmed its commitment to retirement security for public employees by denying a request to reduce contributions to PERA.

In an effort to reduce State spending and balance the budget, Governor Jared Polis had included in his budget proposal a plan to temporarily reduce contributions from employers in PERA’s State Division by 1%.

The Joint Budget Committee (JBC) met on February 4 to consider that and other proposals. After hearing hours of testimony on many competing interests, JBC members voted to deny the Governor’s request. With the vote, the Committee shows the Legislature remains committed to ensuring stable, reliable funding for PERA and a secure retirement for the hundreds of thousands of PERA members who have served our State.

There’s still a lot of legislative work that has to happen before the JBC finalizes its budget in the spring, and PERA On The Issues will continue to monitor the process throughout the session.

JBC moves to draft other PERA proposals

The JBC also voted to draft two legislative proposals that PERA developed to strengthen the Defined Benefit Plan’s financial position and reduce the likelihood of triggering automatic adjustments under the Automatic Adjustment Provision of 2018’s Senate Bill 200.

Those proposals are:

  • Give PERA flexibility to allocate the State’s annual $225 million direct distribution to whichever division trust funds would most help minimize the likelihood of triggering automatic adjustments.
  • Redirect a portion of employers’ health care trust fund contributions to help pay off pension liabilities.

Lawmakers have not yet formally introduced a bill to include either proposal.

Additional legislative activity

Work continues on other PERA-related bills that are making their way through the General Assembly.

On February 9, the House Finance Committee voted to postpone indefinitely House Bill 1062, which would have removed the state income tax deduction cap on income from pensions and other annuities. That means the bill will not move forward this session.

Three other PERA-related bills remain under consideration, including House Bill 1026, which passed the House Finance Committee and is now with the House Appropriations Committee. That bill would make two changes: Allow for limited purchases of service credit for periods of unemployment, and require all PERA employers to offer the PERAPlus 401(k) and 457 Plans to their employees.

MORE INFO: 2026 Proposed PERA-Related Legislation Status

What to Expect from Colorado’s 2026 Legislative Session

Posted on by Kurt Sevits

The second regular session of the 75th Colorado General Assembly will begin on Wednesday, January 14. Lawmakers will then spend up to 120 days introducing and debating bills that could become law and passing a budget for the next fiscal year.

Before all the legislative activity begins, we sat down with PERA’s Director of Public and Government Affairs, Michael Steppat, to discuss the session and what we can expect as it relates to PERA.

Tell our readers a little bit about the Legislature’s role in overseeing PERA and the work you do.

It can be helpful to think of the General Assembly as PERA’s plan sponsor while the PERA Board administers benefits. The General Assembly is responsible for determining things like contribution rates and benefit levels, providing oversight through various legislative committees, and setting the amount of the annual benefit increases that retirees receive.

Because lawmakers have the power to change plan provisions and benefits, it’s important to make sure they understand how PERA works and how legislation can potentially affect our members, retirees, and funding progress. A lot of my time leading up to and during the legislative session involves meeting with legislators and other stakeholders on PERA-related issues and potential legislation. I also attend bill hearings to help inform committee members and answer their questions.

Ahead of the session, you’ve been talking with lawmakers about some PERA-related proposals. Can you give us some more detail on those?

We’ve been exploring some options from a study PERA’s actuaries performed earlier this year for a couple of proactive legislative changes meant to reduce the likelihood of triggering the Automatic Adjustment Provision (AAP) that took effect with Senate Bill 200 in 2018. The AAP automatically adjusts member and employer contributions, the State’s direct distribution, and retiree annual increases based on our funding progress. It is a calculation laid out in statute that essentially compares what came into the fund in any given year versus what should have come in that year to keep PERA on track to full funding by 2048. If we fall behind in a given year, contributions go up the following year while annual increases go down, and vice versa.

We know those adjustments can be really challenging for our members and retirees, so we worked with our actuaries to come up with two legislative proposals that are meant to reduce the likelihood of any automatic adjustments in the near future—without jeopardizing our progress toward reaching full funding by 2048.

Those proposals include providing PERA flexibility to allocate the State’s annual $225 million direct distribution to whichever division trust funds would help minimize the likelihood of triggering automatic adjustments and redirecting a portion of employers’ health care trust fund contributions to instead help pay off pension liabilities. The health care trust fund is closer to full funding than the pension trust funds, so we want to make sure those contributions are going where they’re needed most.

We think these two bill proposals will be beneficial for our members, retirees and employers, because they would reduce the chance of automatic adjustments without having any negative financial impact on our funding progress. Additionally, these proposed changes do not require any new funding mechanisms from the State, which is very important as the Legislature is facing yet another year with a budget shortfall and having to make drastic cuts to balance the budget.

Speaking of the budget, lawmakers will be tasked with cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in State spending. Could any of those cuts affect PERA?

PERA doesn’t rely on the State budget for the administration or operating costs of the plan, but the General Assembly and the State of Colorado as an employer make contributions to PERA that could be subject to legislation.

For example, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Legislature paused (and later repaid) its annual $225 million direct distribution to PERA due to a significant budget shortfall. We don’t expect anything like that this year. However, Governor Polis included in his budget proposal a 1% reduction in what the State Division contributes as an employer to PERA. Specifically, the governor’s budget request calls for reducing the Amortization Equalization Disbursement (AED) and Supplemental Amortization Equalization Disbursement (SAED) both by 0.5% for employers in the State Division to help balance the fiscal year 2026-27 budget. The AED and SAED are employer contributions to PERA for the purpose of reducing the unfunded actuarial accrued liability.

The proposed 1% reduction would reduce contributions to PERA by about $40 million over the state’s next fiscal year, adding up to about $180 million by the time PERA reaches full funding in 2048.

PERA leadership remains actively engaged with policymakers to oppose measures that would negatively impact the fund’s financial health and we have already provided formal testimony to the Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee outlining the long-term risks of reduced contributions, to ensure they fully understand the consequences for members and retirees.

The Governor’s list of budget recommendations also revives the proposal to privatize Pinnacol Assurance. How does PERA factor into that proposal?

Pinnacol Assurance is the State’s workers’ compensation insurer, and the Governor’s Office wants to convert it from a quasi-public entity to a private one to take advantage of the hundreds of millions of dollars Pinnacol has in its reserves.

If that happens, Pinnacol could not continue to be part of PERA, since its staff would no longer be public employees. In order to disaffiliate from PERA, Pinnacol would be required to pay its portion of DB Plan liabilities—estimated to be approximately $300 million—to fund the benefits its employees have earned prior to disaffiliation.

This is the second year in a row the Governor’s budget request has proposed privatizing Pinnacol Assurance, but it has also been a policy discussion that has come up multiple times over the past few decades and, so far, without any consensus on potential changes to the structure of the state’s largest workers’ compensation carrier and insurer of last resort. If policymakers can agree on a solution to the more fundamental question of whether Pinnacol should be allowed to privatize, then PERA will factor in and we’ll seek to ensure any disaffiliation payment to PERA is satisfactory to cover the expected liabilities over time.

We sometimes hear from members who want to know how they can weigh in on legislation—what’s your advice?

I always tell people the most important thing they can do is contact their legislators about issues that are important to them. In addition, the General Assembly website has lots of great information. You can listen to committee meetings, view calendars, review the status of a bill, and sign up to testify at committee meetings.

I also encourage anyone who’s interested in PERA-related policy to join the Ambassador Program to receive email updates on the legislative session and bills that might affect PERA.

And of course the biweekly PERA On The Issues newsletter will also have up-to-date information on any legislation that affects PERA.

PERA Receives Clean Audit at 2025 Legislative Audit Committee Hearing

Posted on by Kurt Sevits

Colorado PERA received a clean audit at its annual hearing with the Legislative Audit Committee on August 11.

Results of annual audit

Every year, the State hires an independent auditor to examine PERA’s financial reports, compliance, and internal controls. Since 2015, the State has enlisted CliftonLarsonAllen, a nationally recognized financial services firm, to conduct that work.

As in years past, the audit did not find any issues with PERA’s recently released 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) and did not find any deficiencies or weaknesses in PERA’s internal controls.

Ensuring robust and accurate financial reporting and internal controls is a vital part of providing retirement security to Colorado’s public workforce. To that end, the ACFR is prepared to conform with generally accepted accounting principles, including requirements of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board and Actuarial Standards of Practice. PERA’s internal audit team routinely reviews internal controls and operations, and the Chief Audit Executive regularly reports to the Board of Trustees’ Audit Committee, which includes independent experts.

RELATED: A Closer Look at PERA’s 2024 Annual Report

PERA plan study

In addition to the outside audit, the hearing included the Office of the State Auditor presenting the results of an independent study that compared the cost and benefits of the PERA Defined Benefit Plan to other plan designs.

That study found PERA continues to be a valuable tool for recruiting and retaining public employees by providing cost-effective retirement benefits.

READ MORE: Study Confirms PERA a Valuable Tool for Recruiting, Retaining Public Workers

Other interim activities

While PERA staff and consultants typically meet with various other legislative panels throughout the summer, those hearings are paused this year due to budget constraints. The suspension of interim activities applies to both the Pension Review Commission, which typically begins working on bills for the next legislative session, and the Pension Review Subcommittee.

PERA’s next hearing at the State Capitol will be with the Joint Budget Committee in the fall.

What the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Means for Retiree Health Care

Posted on by Kurt Sevits

President Trump signed into law the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” a bill that makes changes to federal taxes and spending, some of which could affect older Americans receiving government assistance for food and health care.

The bill includes new tax provisions, such as a $6,000 tax deduction for seniors and expanded deductions for charitable giving. It also reduces government spending on programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), as well as the individual insurance marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act.

Those changes could affect some people with disabilities, family caregivers, retirees who are not yet old enough to qualify for Medicare, and others who shop for health insurance on their own. The bill does not directly affect Medicare or Medicare Advantage plans like what PERACare offers.

Health and food assistance programs

According to AARP, more than 11 million Americans age 50 and older rely on SNAP benefits to afford their groceries and more than 17 million older adults use Medicaid for their health care. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will make it harder to qualify for both programs and will require more paperwork for some enrollees to continue receiving their benefits.

To qualify for Medicaid, people under the age of 65 will need to show that they’re working or taking part in other job-related activities, such as job training or volunteering, at least 80 hours a month, unless they qualify for an exception. States also will be required to verify some enrollees’ eligibility more often—at least every six months.

The bill also expands work requirements for SNAP food assistance to include more older Americans. Able-bodied adults under the age of 65 will have to work at least 20 hours a week to receive benefits for more than three months, unless they qualify for an exception.

Medicaid work requirements are expected to take effect by early 2027, but it’s less clear when the new SNAP requirements will go into effect.

The individual insurance marketplace

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act adds new requirements for enrolling in health care coverage through insurance marketplaces like Connect for Health Colorado.

The bill eliminates automatic reenrollment in marketplace health care plans, meaning participants in those plans will need to manually enroll every year or face losing their coverage. It also shortens the annual open enrollment period and allows the expiration of enhanced tax credits that made plans more affordable.

Experts say premiums for marketplace insurance plans are likely to go up as a result of the changes, and insurers in Colorado have already proposed substantial increases for next year.

Coverage options under PERACare

PERA’s health benefits program, PERACare, includes pre-Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans, as well as combination coverage for retirees who want to cover both Medicare and non-Medicare eligible family members.

PERA provides a health care subsidy to help offset PERACare health care premiums. The subsidy amount is based upon a retiree’s years of service, for a maximum $115 monthly subsidy for Medicare-eligible retirees.

While the federal tax and spending bill does not include changes to Medicare, other regulatory changes (among other factors) are expected to influence plan premiums next year. PERA staff are still finalizing plan details, but we do expect PERACare premiums to rise for 2026.

PERACare open enrollment will take place between October 20 and November 20, 2025, and we will have plan information available by October 1.

For more information, visit copera.org/peracare.

Colorado Legislature Passes Four PERA-Related Bills in 2025 Session

Posted on by Kurt Sevits

Editor’s note (6-10-25): This article was updated to show that all four bills have been signed into law.

That’s a wrap on the 2025 legislative session—the Colorado General Assembly concluded on Wednesday, May 7.

Lawmakers introduced more than 650 bills over the course of the 120-day session, seven of which related directly to PERA. Of those, four bills passed both chambers and are now on the governor’s desk. Below are summaries of those four bills and their impact on PERA.

Visit our legislation tracking page for more information on these bills and the bills that didn’t pass.

Which bills passed?

Senate Bill 28: Public Employees’ Retirement Association Risk Reduction Measures

This bill establishes in state law certain reporting practices the PERA Board of Trustees already performs on a regular basis, including actuarial experience studies and independent reviews through actuarial audits. The bill aims to align the timeline of those activities with the Pension Review Subcommittee’s independent review, which it conducts on a regular basis.

House Bill 1105: PERA True-Up of Denver Public Schools Division Employer Contribution

Legislation that merged the Denver Public Schools Retirement System (DPSRS) into PERA in 2010 included a requirement that PERA perform a “true-up” calculation every five years to determine if the Denver Public Schools (DPS) Division’s employer contribution rate should be adjusted to ensure the DPS and School Divisions reach equal funding ratios within 30 years.

This bill reduces the DPS Division employer contribution rate by 3.0%, diverts a portion of the DPS Division’s Health Care Trust Fund contributions towards the DPS Division’s Pension Trust Fund, temporarily removes the DPS Division from the Automatic Adjustment Provision calculation (though it remains subject to any changes from the AAP) and temporarily prevents the DPS Division from receiving allocations of the annual direct distribution from the State in order to negate the impact of the reduced contributions having a negative effect on the AAP calculation.

Senate Bill 147: Modify Board Management PERA

This bill modifies a number of provisions under current law related to the PERA Board, including changes to how PERA is designated for purposes of open meetings laws, establishing term limits for Trustees, and requiring that certain financial information, including various administrative costs and other expenses, be posted on PERA’s website and updated on an annual basis.

READ MORE: PERA Board Supports Bill That Codifies Board Practices, Enhances Transparency

Senate Bill 310: Proposition 130 Implementation

The final PERA-related bill introduced this session involved Proposition 130, the voter-approved measure that directs the state to spend $350 million to recruit, train, and retain local law enforcement officers. The provisions that apply to PERA relate to funding for the bill, which will involve giving PERA a lump-sum payment of $500 million on July 1, 2025 and reducing future years’ direct distributions to PERA based on our investment earnings on the $500 million.

Despite reductions in future direct distributions, the bill is expected to be a net positive for PERA’s funding and also allows PERA to allocate the $500 million in a way that reduces the likelihood of triggering the AAP based on PERA’s funding progress in the future.

What’s next?

Gov. Jared Polis signed all four PERA-related bills into law.

In addition to the above bills, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 199, which suspends interim legislative activities for the year. That means the Pension Review Commission and Pension Review Subcommittee, which usually meet in the period between sessions and begin work on drafting legislation, will not meet this summer. PERA staff will still appear before the Legislative Audit Committee in August to discuss our financial status and receive the results of the State’s annual audit.

Last session, the Legislature approved a bill that directs the Office of the State Auditor to commission an updated study comparing the value of PERA’s hybrid defined benefit plan to other plan designs. We expect to receive the results of that study sometime this summer, and we’ll be sure to share that information when we have it.

PERA Board Supports Bill That Codifies Board Practices, Enhances Transparency

Posted on by Kurt Sevits

The Colorado PERA Board of Trustees voted to support SB25-147, a bill that proposes changes to statute regarding Board operations and transparency. The Trustees held a special meeting on Friday, February 28 to discuss the bill and take a position.

The bill from sponsors Sen. Byron Pelton, Sen. Chris Kolker, Rep. Lori Garcia Sander, and Rep. Meghan Lukens would modify state law to impose term limits on Trustees; define the PERA Board as a local public body instead of a state public body as it applies to the Colorado Open Meetings Law; and require that PERA post certain financial information online, including staff compensation and various other administrative expenses.

In addition to the above changes, the bill sets out in state law some current Board and staff practices, including:

  • Posting Board meeting materials and recordings on PERA’s website: PERA currently streams every Board meeting on copera.org and YouTube, and recordings are available afterward. Agendas for Board meetings are posted in advance and materials from past meetings are also available online.
  • Providing instructions for members of the public to participate in Board meetings: PERA currently provides multiple ways to communicate with the Board, including public comment (in person and over the phone) at every regular meeting and a Board-specific email address on the Contact Us page.
  • Posting audited financial statements online: PERA’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) contains detailed information about PERA’s finances, membership, and operations. The ACFR and all other annual financial reports are available online.

In their conversation about the bill and its proposed changes, Trustees discussed the importance of transparency in maintaining trust with stakeholders. The Board’s vote to support the bill demonstrates its commitment to making PERA more open and accountable.

“Strong governance and clear communication with our members and the public are vital to a mission-driven organization like Colorado PERA, and we believe Senate Bill 147 helps affirm our commitment to transparency,” said CEO/Executive Director Andrew Roth. “I want to thank the sponsors for bringing this bill before the Legislature, and we look forward to further engagement with policymakers as it makes its way through the General Assembly.”

On February 25, the Senate Finance Committee voted unanimously to refer the amended bill to Appropriations, where it remains under consideration.

Learn more and read the full text of the bill on the General Assembly’s website.