Retirement bill amended, advanced

A retirement systems clean-up bill was amended to incorporate two additional measures and advanced from general file March 16.

LB103, sponsored by Omaha Sen. Mike McDonnell, would make technical changes to a bill passed in 2022 that codified retirement practices and rules for certified teachers covered by the State Code Agency Teachers Association contract who previously or subsequently are employed by a school district, educational service unit or any other state agency.

McDonnell said LB103 would correct an oversight in last year’s legislation by adding a third group to the definition of eligible school plan employees.

“Since the passage of [the previous legislation] it has been recognized that there are a few teachers — my understanding is less than 15 — that are not covered or represented by SCATA but who are employed by the Department of Education,” he said.

An amendment from the Nebraska Retirement Systems Committee, adopted 30-0, added provisions of LB104 and LB105, also introduced by McDonnell.

LB104 would change the state, county, judges, school and state patrol retirement plans to raise the age from 72 to 73 for required minimum distributions in order to align with recently passed federal legislation. The RMD age would increase to 75 beginning in 2033.

LB105 would change various retirement plans to align with federal legislation that changed the definition of military service to include preparations for military service, rest and recovery after military service and state active service.

Following adoption of the committee amendment, senators voted 32-0 to advance LB103 to select file.