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SF0067 • 2024

Public employee retirement plan-contributions.

AN ACT relating to public employee retirement; increasing the employer and employee contributions for the public employee retirement plan; specifying how increased employee contributions shall be paid; removing obsolete language; providing appropriations; and providing for an effective date.

Budget Labor
Vetoed

The latest official action shows the governor vetoed this bill. Check the bill history to see whether lawmakers later overrode that veto.

Sponsor
Appropriations
Last action
2024-03-22
Official status
enrolled
Effective date
7/1/2024

Plain English Breakdown

The bill was vetoed by the governor on March 22, 2024. It is unclear if lawmakers will override this veto.

Public Employee Retirement Plan Changes

This bill increases employer and employee contributions to the public employee retirement plan, specifies how increased payments will be made, removes outdated language, provides funding for these changes, and sets an effective date.

What This Bill Does

  • Increases the percentage of salary that employees must contribute to their retirement plan starting July 1, 2024.
  • Raises the employer contribution rates for public employee retirement plans starting July 1, 2024.
  • Provides funding through appropriations to cover increased employer contributions.
  • Removes outdated language in existing laws.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Public employees who are part of the retirement plan.
  • Employers that contribute to public employee retirement plans.

Terms To Know

Appropriations
Money set aside by the government for specific uses, such as funding increased employer contributions to a retirement plan.
Employer contribution rate
The percentage of an employee's salary that their employer must contribute to the retirement fund.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill was vetoed by the governor on March 22, 2024.
  • It is unclear if lawmakers will override the governor’s veto.
  • The effective date of July 1, 2024, may not occur due to the veto.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

SF0067HS001

Standing Committee • House Appropriations Committee

Corrected, Adopted

Plain English: The amendment adds a new section to the bill that appropriates money from the general fund to cover increased employer contributions for public employee retirement plans in Wyoming.

  • Adds an appropriation of $3,483,000 from the general fund to be used by the state auditor's office to pay up to 0.25% and then 0.5% of a member’s salary towards their retirement contributions for specific periods starting July 1, 2024.
  • Specifies that this money will cover employer contributions for different branches and institutions including legislative, judicial, executive, community colleges, and the University of Wyoming.
  • The amendment does not specify how the remaining sections of the bill are affected or what happens after the appropriation is fully spent.
  • Details on how this will impact state employees beyond those explicitly mentioned in the amendment are unclear from the provided text.
SF0067JC001

Conference Committee

S Adopted, H Adopted

Plain English: The amendment removes certain changes made by the House to a bill about public employee retirement contributions.

  • Removes specific amendments from the House that were related to the public employee retirement plan.
  • The exact nature of the House amendments being removed is not detailed in the provided amendment text, so more context would be needed to fully understand what changes are being eliminated.

Bill History

  1. 2024-03-22 Governor

    Governor Vetoed SEA No. 0068

  2. 2024-03-08 House

    H Speaker Signed SEA No. 0068

  3. 2024-03-08 Senate

    S President Signed SEA No. 0068

  4. 2024-03-08 LSO

    Assigned Number SEA No. 0068

  5. 2024-03-07 House

    H Appointed JCC01 Members

  6. 2024-03-07 Senate

    S Appointed JCC01 Members

  7. 2024-03-07 Senate

    S Concur:Failed 15-14-1-0-1

  8. 2024-03-04 Senate

    S Received for Concurrence

  9. 2024-03-01 House

    H 3rd Reading:Passed 39-19-4-0-0

  10. 2024-02-29 House

    H 2nd Reading:Passed

  11. 2024-02-28 House

    H COW:Passed

  12. 2024-02-27 House

    H Placed on General File

  13. 2024-02-27 House

    H02 - Appropriations:Recommend Amend and Do Pass 7-0-0-0-0

  14. 2024-02-26 House

    H Introduced and Referred to H02 - Appropriations

  15. 2024-02-15 House

    H Received for Introduction

  16. 2024-02-15 Senate

    S 3rd Reading:Passed 16-14-0-0-1

  17. 2024-02-14 Senate

    S 2nd Reading:Passed

  18. 2024-02-13 Senate

    S COW:Passed

  19. 2024-02-13 Senate

    S Placed on General File

  20. 2024-02-13 Senate

    S02 - Appropriations:Recommend Do Pass 4-1-0-0-0

  21. 2024-02-12 Senate

    S Introduced and Referred to S02 - Appropriations 25-6-0-0-0

  22. 2024-01-29 Senate

    S Received for Introduction

  23. 2024-01-26 LSO

    Bill Number Assigned

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
24LSO-0341

ORIGINAL Senate

File No
.
SF0067

ENROLLED ACT NO. 68,

SENATE

SIXTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2024 Budget Session

AN ACT relating to public employee retirement; increasing the employer and employee contributions for the public employee retirement plan; specifying how increased employee contributions shall be paid; removing obsolete language; providing appropriations; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1
.

W.S. 9
‑
3
‑
412(a) and 9
‑
3
‑
413 are amended to read:

9
‑
3
‑
412.

Members' contributions; payroll deductions; employer authorized to pay employee's share.

(a)

Except as otherwise provided in this section and W.S. 9
‑
3
‑
431 and 9
‑
3
‑
432, every member covered under this article
,
shall pay into the account
eight and one
‑
half percent (8.5%) of his salary for the period from September 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019, eight and three
‑
quarters percent (8.75%) of his salary for the period from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020, nine percent (9%) of his salary for the period from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021 and thereafter
nine and one
‑
quarter percent (9.25%)
of his salary for the period from July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2024, nine and one
‑
half percent (9.50%) of his salary for the period from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025 and thereafter nine and three
‑
quarters percent (9.75%)
of his salary. Every firefighter member covered under this article shall pay into the account seven percent (7%) of his salary.

Payments shall be deducted each pay period from each member's salary by the chief fiscal officer of each participating employer.

Employee contributions shall be transferred to the account in accordance with subsection (c) of this section.

9
‑
3
‑
413.

Employer's contributions; payable monthly; transfer to account; interest imposed upon delinquent contributions; recovery.

Except as provided by W.S. 9
‑
2
‑
3207(a)(xi)(F)(III) or (IV), 9
‑
3
‑
431 and 9
‑
3
‑
432, each employer excluding employers of firefighter members, shall
,
on a monthly basis, pay into the account a contribution equal to
eight and sixty
‑
two hundredths percent (8.62%) of the salary paid to each of its members covered under this article for the period from September 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019, eight and eighty
‑
seven hundredths percent (8.87%) of the salary paid for the period from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020, nine and twelve hundredths percent (9.12%) of the salary paid for the period from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021 and thereafter
nine and thirty
‑
seven hundredths percent (9.37%) of the salary paid
for the period from July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2024, nine and sixty
‑
two hundredths percent (9.62%) of the salary paid for the period from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025 and thereafter nine and eighty
‑
seven hundredths (9.87%) of the salary paid
.

Employers of firefighter members shall pay into the account a contribution equal to seven and twelve hundredths percent (7.12%) of the salary paid.

Employer contributions for any month, together with the members' contributions for that month, if any, shall be transferred to the board not later than the twelfth day of the following month.

These contributions shall be credited to the account in a manner as directed by the board.

Any employer failing to transfer contributions under this section in sufficient time for the board to receive the contributions by the twenty
‑
fifth day of the month due shall be assessed interest at the assumed rate of return as determined by the board, compounded annually. Interest imposed under this section shall be payable not later than the twelfth day of the next succeeding month. If the contributions and any interest imposed under this section are not transferred to the board when due, they may be recovered, together with court costs, in an action brought for that purpose in the first judicial district court in Laramie County, Wyoming.

Section 2
.

(a)

As used in this section, "state agency" includes each state executive, legislative or judicial department, board, commission or other agency or instrumentality of the state and, for purposes of subsections (d) and (k) of this section, includes the University of Wyoming and each community college.

(b)

There is appropriated three million four hundred eighty
‑
three thousand dollars ($3,483,000.00) from the general fund to the state auditor for purposes of payment of the increase in employer contribution rates required by W.S. 9
‑
3
‑
413, as amended by section 1 of this act. Subject to the provisions of this section and from this appropriation, the state auditor shall distribute this appropriation as follows:

(i)

Thirty
‑
three thousand dollars ($33,000.00) for legislative branch employer contributions;

(ii)

One hundred thirty thousand dollars ($130,000.00) for judicial branch employer contributions;

(iii)

One million nine hundred fifty thousand dollars ($1,950,000.00) for state executive branch employer contributions;

(iv)

Five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000.00) for community college employer contributions;

(v)

Eight hundred seventy thousand dollars ($870,000.00) for University of Wyoming employer contributions.

(c)

There is appropriated to the state auditor six million eight hundred twenty
‑
five thousand dollars ($6,825,000.00) from the public school foundation program account for employer contributions for school districts.

(d)

For state agency employers whose retirement contributions are made from non
‑
general fund sources, there is appropriated from those accounts and funds amounts necessary to provide payment of the increase in employer contribution rates required by W.S. 9
‑
3
‑
413, as amended by section 1 of this act.

(e)

The appropriations under paragraphs (b)(i) through (iii) and subsection (d) of this section shall only be expended to provide payment of the increase in each state agency's employer contribution rates required by W.S. 9
‑
3
‑
413, as amended by section 1 of this act, for the 2025
‑
2026 fiscal biennium. The appropriation under paragraphs (b)(iv) and (v) of this section shall only be expended for the purpose of providing payment of the increase in the University of Wyoming and community college employer contribution rates required by W.S. 9
‑
3
‑
413, as amended by section 1 of this act, and to provide like contributions under W.S. 21
‑
19
‑
101 through 21
‑
19
‑
106 corresponding to the increased employer contributions under this act for the 2025
‑
2026 fiscal biennium.

(f)

The appropriation under subsection (c) of this section shall only be expended for the purpose of providing each school district's increased employer contribution required by W.S. 9
‑
3
‑
413, as amended by section 1 of this act, for the 2025
‑
2026 fiscal biennium. The state auditor shall transfer the funds to the state retirement system or to the department of education for distribution to individual school districts as determined by the department of education to be necessary to meet the provisions of this act. Any unexpended public school foundation program account funds appropriated under subsection (c) of this section on June 30, 2026 shall revert to the public school foundation program account.

(g)

No amount of the appropriations made in this section shall be used to provide the increased employee contribution required by this act.

(h)

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the appropriations under this section shall not be transferred or expended for any purpose other than as specified in this section. Any unexpended, unobligated funds remaining from the appropriations made in this section shall revert as provided by law on June 30, 2026.

(j)

Except as otherwise provided in this section, the state auditor shall transfer the funds to the state retirement system or to individual state agencies as determined by the department of administration and information to be necessary to meet the provisions of this act.

(k)

It is the intent of the legislature that the appropriations made in this section be included in each state agency's standard budget request for the immediately succeeding fiscal biennium.

Section 3
.

This act is effective July 1, 2024
.

(END)

Speaker of the House

President of the Senate

Governor

TIME APPROVED: _________

DATE APPROVED: _________

I hereby certify that this act originated in the Senate.

Chief Clerk

1