Treasurer Magaziner's HELP Act Receives Broad Support at House Hearing

June 15, 2017: Stakeholders, members of the business community, and government officials from across Rhode Island testified in support of General Treasurer Seth Magaziner's Healthy Local Pensions (HELP) Act before the House Finance Committee yesterday. The legislation (H 6030) will make it easier for cities and towns with locally administered pension plans to join the state run Municipal Employees' Retirement System (MERS).

"Too many locally-managed municipal pension plans in Rhode Island remain critically underfunded, threatening the retirement security of employees who have spent a career in public service," said Treasurer Magaziner. "This common-sense proposal provides a new tool for those municipalities to get their pension plans back on track if they choose to do so."

The process by which municipal plans can enter MERS is antiquated and unnecessarily rigid. The HELP Act will, in part, update the process to make it more manageable by extending the length of time cities and towns can take to fully-fund their pension plans.

You can read the entire press release here.