State Rep. Brian BeGole is pushing back on Democrat bills that could have a catastrophic impact on the financial health of Michigan’s school retirement system and cost taxpayers for years to come.

The Michigan House on Friday advanced House Bills 6060-61, which re-open a type of pension known as a defined benefit plan for new public school and state civil service employees. These particular plans have been closed to new public school employee hires since 2010 due to their volatility, which can come with soaring debt and budget shortfalls. Michigan was one of the first states to work on eliminating pensions, closing their state employee pension in 1997.

“Going back would cost the state significant amounts of money and expose taxpayers to the same risk with unfunded liabilities that gave this system so many problems in the past,” said BeGole, of Antrim Township. “This all may sound foolproof on paper but who pays for it? How does it get budgeted? What happens if there’s significant economic downturn in the future that impacts this system? These are things that have to be accounted for before we just send something to get signed into law, and I don’t see that being done in this instance. I see something that’s getting rushed through in the last few days of a legislative term like a lot of other things that are being pushed by Democrats in majority – and that’s irresponsible.”

BeGole noted the work that has been done by Republicans in the years since so retirement promises that were made to hardworking teachers could be kept, including paying down Michigan’s Public School Employees’ Retirement System (MPSERS) debt through tough, fiscally responsible policies. The current MPSERS debt is close to $30 billion.