SB 141 Montana Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Providing that the default retirement plan for legislators is the defined contribution plan through PERS

SB 141 requires new Montana legislators elected or appointed for the first time on or after July 1, 2025, to join the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) defined contribution plan as their default retirement plan. It does not affect current legislators or those taking office before July 2025. The bill specifies that new legislators without existing retirement system membership must enroll in PERS' defined contribution plan, while existing inactive/retired members have options to return to their previous system or join PERS' defined contribution plan. This changes the default retirement system for new legislators but does not alter contribution rates or benefits for current members.
Bill status died 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Jan 14, 2025 Last action May 23, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

LC0018.pdf SB0141_1.pdf · 4 edits
MODERATE
The bill was renumbered from LC 0018 to SB 141 and underwent significant restructuring to clarify retirement system eligibility for legislators. The primary change involves expanding the list of retirement systems that allow new legislators to return to active membership or remain inactive, while simultaneously narrowing the specific requirements for the public employees' retirement system defined contribution plan. The effective date remains June 30, 2025.
Scope change
The bill's scope was refined by explicitly adding the 'university system retirement program' and 'chapter 21' systems to the list of eligible plans, while removing the 'chapter 21' reference from the mandatory participation clause for the public employees' retirement system.
ELIGIBILITY

Added the university system retirement program and chapter 21 systems to the list of plans where new legislators may return to active membership or remain inactive.

Removed the requirement for new legislators to join the public employees' retirement system defined contribution plan if they are already members of other specific retirement systems (chapters 5-9, 13, 20, or 21).

DEFINITION

Changed the definition of eligible retirement systems from a general list to a specific list including 'defined benefit' systems, clarifying the distinction between different plan types.

REQUIREMENT

Restructured the mandatory participation clause to require new legislators to join the public employees' retirement system defined contribution plan only if they are not already active, inactive, or retired members of other specified systems.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
26
Key actions
1
Committee
2
Amendments
1
Feb 22, 2025
Amended
(S) Tabled in Committee - (S) State Administration
upper
Feb 22, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) State Administration
upper
Jan 16, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) State Administration
upper
Jan 14, 2025
Introduced
(S) Introduced
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Forrest Mandeville
Forrest Mandeville
RRepublican
MT
28