Juneau -- Tuesday the Alaska House passed legislation that would allow public employees to get credit for time worked as temporary employees toward their minimum service time for retirement. Senate Bill 85, sponsored by Senator Jerry Mackie, affects employees covered by the Public Employee Retirement System (PERS).

Currently, employees can buy back temporary time and credit it toward retirement under the PERS system, but they can not credit it toward the minimum service time requirement. In order to "buy back" the time, the employees must pay the state for the full actuarial cost of providing benefits for the credited service. This means that there are no additional costs to the State of Alaska Retirement System to provide these benefits.

"SB 85 provides equity to all state employees in temporary positions by enabling them to count their temporary time towards retirement eligibility," said Mackie. "The passage of this bill sends a positive message to Alaska's State employees during a critical economic period within our state. It is the right thing to do."

SB 85 goes to the Governor for signature.

Sponsor Statement for SB 85

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