The House advanced a sweeping overhaul of the Florida Retirement System Thursday, setting it for a key floor vote Friday as a major bargaining chip in late negotiations with the Senate during the final week of the 2014 legislative session.
“This narrow approach to pension reform will save taxpayers about $28 billion over 30 years,” said Rep. Jim Boyd, D-Bradenton, the sponsor of the FRS package.
Democrats objected that the pension plan covering state, county, school board, university and many local government employees is not in any trouble. By contrast, opponents argued that the FRS has an 86 percent funding ratio of assets to liabilities, and that anything above 80 percent is considered fine actuarial health.
