Open Letter to the MS Legislature

March 27, 2025

To the Members of the Mississippi Legislature,


PERS has 368k members. Assuming each one has an adult significant other you arrive at 736k potential voters that rely on PERS. They are counting on you to protect the system. At its last meeting the PERS board discussed the serious financial situation that the system finds itself in. The Mississippi Retired Public Employees' Association (MRPEA) urges you to work with the PERS actuary to arrive at a multi-year funding plan that will protect the system. If a Tier 5 option is to be adopted, we request that you support the Tier 5 defined benefit option.


At this time there is no funding for PERS in House Bill 1 and new PERS members will have the Senate's Hybrid Tier 5 as their retirement system unless legislation is passed to change either of these issues.


Fund The System. Last year, the Legislature affirmed its support for paying retirement benefits to active employees and retired members of PERS in passing Senate Bill 3231. As of June 30, 2024, the unfunded liability of PERS stood at $26.6 billion. An ongoing multi-year commitment to reducing the unfunded liability of the system must be made, whether it comes from cash infusions, increases in the employer contribution rate beyond those passed during the 2024 Legislative session, or a combination of both. Any funding plan should be constructed in accordance with actuarial recommendations.



Support The Defined Benefit Plan Tier 5 Option. The PERS Tier 5 hybrid plan would provide significantly lower benefits to future members with no guarantee that projected benefits will be achieved. It does not include a guaranteed cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).

The Tier 5 defined benefit (DB) plan alternative to the Tier 5 hybrid plan is comparable to the hybrid plan in terms of its impact on system funding, but it provides substantially higher benefits to future PERS members including a 1% COLA, and benefits are guaranteed. We believe that the DB plan will assist in attracting and retaining Mississippi's public sector workforce of the future. Charts comparing the two plans appear below.



Thank you for considering this information.

Sincerely

Bonnie P. Granger, MRPEA President

Updates

GUARDIAN ALERT: PERS is NOT funded!

By Emily Pote • April 3, 2026
Friday, April 3 Update The House and Senate adjourned Sine Die a little before 10 AM on Friday, April 3. At the end of the session, NO FUNDS WERE SENT TO FUND PERS. Not only were they unable to fund the system as they had planned, but they were also unable to fund the system as the actuaries had recommended at this time. The legislature has been repeatedly told by PERS staff, the PERS actuary, the PERS board, and MRPEA that additional funding is needed to sustain benefits for current and future retirees. The actuary recommends funding at the Actuarially Determined Contribution (ADC) level, which is estimated to bring the system to a 99% funded ratio by 2047. In contrast, legislative proposals like SB 2004 only projected a 68.7% funded ratio by 2047, creating a concerning 30% differential from what the actuary actually recommends. MRPEA will continue to urge the House and Senate to collaborate with the PERS Board, staff, and actuary to arrive at a funding plan that will truly stabilize PERS for its 373,393 members. This must include real solutions, such as cash infusions, dedicated revenue streams, and the continuation of incremental increases in the employer contribution rate. As before, please call the Lt. Governor, the Speaker, and your local legislators, and ask them to honor their commitment to PERS 373,393 members and fund the system based on what the actuary has said the system needs!  Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann - (601) 359-3200 Speaker of the House Jason White - (601) 359-3300 Leave a message for your local legislator with the Capitol switchboard - (601) 359-3770

Our Message is Clear - Fund PERS!

By Emily Pote • March 25, 2026
Guardian Alert

🚨 GUARDIAN ALERT: Call for PERS Funding!

By Emily Pote • March 6, 2026
MRPEA Member Alert! As you may have heard, all PERS funding bills “officially” died on Tuesday, March 2. While this is disappointing, we want to express our appreciation to both the House and the Senate for actively working to fund PERS this year. We anticipate these efforts will continue during this year’s legislative session. We also extend our sincere gratitude to Senator Blount for his dedicated work to rectify Tier 5. However, we must stress that ultimately, neither the House nor the Senate plans funded the system in the way the actuaries have stressed the system needs to be funded. The legislature has been told repeatedly by the PERS staff, the PERS actuary, the PERS board, and MRPEA that additional funding is needed to sustain benefits for current and future retirees. The actuary recommends funding at the Actuarially Determined Contribution (ADC) level, which is estimated to bring the system to a 99% funded ratio by 2047. In contrast, legislative proposals like SB 2004 only projected a 68.7% funded ratio by 2047, creating a concerning 30% differential from what the actuary actually recommends. To this point, the plans of both the House and the Senate leave the system highly vulnerable. At a recent PERS board meeting, it was noted that, on average, PERS investments experience negative annual returns in two years out of every ten-year period. If the system experiences just a single 8% negative return in 2027, PERS's funded status under SB 2004 is projected to plummet from 56.7% at the end of 2025 down to just 40% in 2047. MRPEA will continue to urge the House and Senate to collaborate with the PERS Board, staff, and actuary to arrive at a funding plan that will truly stabilize PERS for its 373,393 members. This must include real solutions, such as cash infusions, dedicated revenue streams, and the continuation of incremental increases in the employer contribution rate. We need your help NOW! Please call your legislators and ask them to honor their commitment to PERS 373,393 members and fund the system based on what the actuary has said the system needs! Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann - (601) 359-3200 Speaker of the House Jason White - (601) 359-3300 Leave a message for any legislator with the Capitol switchboard - (601) 359-3770 Thank you for your consideration of this request.  Dr. Kathy Clayton MRPEA President