Technical fix proposed for judges' retirement funding path in LB420 (AM198)
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Summary
LB420, amended by AM198, would replace language requiring an administrative transfer by the state treasurer with statute stating the state will contribute the required amount to the Nebraska Retirement Fund for judges. The change responds to an auditor finding that the prior language created a duplicate appropriation pathway; committee heard the
Trevor Fitzgerald, committee legal counsel, introduced LB420 on behalf of the Nebraska Retirement Systems Committee and explained that Senator Ballard filed amendment AM198 to replace the placeholder bill with language to address a technical funding-path anomaly in the Nebraska Judges Retirement Act identified by the Auditor of Public Accounts.
Fitzgerald said the auditor’s management letter noted that statutory language referring to a transfer by the state treasurer produced a duplicate appropriations request in practice. The amendment strikes the reference to an administrative transfer and instead directs that “the state shall contribute the required amount to the plan,” aligning the statutory language with current budgetary practice and preventing the duplicate entry noted during the audit.
Tad Herbeck, legal counsel for the Nebraska Public Employees Retirement Systems (NPERS), appeared as a proponent and told the committee that LB420 with AM198 “fixes what is a technical funding path anomaly in the Nebraska Judges Retirement Act” and that the change brings the statute into line with how transfers and contributions are managed.
Eric Asbo, administrative fiscal analyst for the judicial branch, asked the committee to clarify that contributions be made “from the general fund,” providing proposed language to reinstate those words to make funding origin explicit; Asbo said he had discussed the proposed change with NPERS legal counsel and fiscal staff and encountered no opposition to the clarification.
No opposition testimony was offered; the committee took the technical testimony and closed the hearing. The issues are procedural and described in the auditor’s management letter; the committee did not take a vote at the hearing.
Ending: The amendment to LB420 is a technical statutory fix requested in response to an auditor finding. Committee members accepted explanations from NPERS and judicial fiscal staff and suggested the simple clarifying insertion specifying “from the general fund.”