The PERA Board of Trustees met on Friday, March 24 for its second regular meeting of 2023.

The meeting began with public comment and Board committee reports from the day before, followed by an update on the upcoming Board election and reports from PERA staff.

Board election

Four seats on the Board are up for election this year, and members interested in serving as a PERA trustee were able to submit their candidate packets in January and February.

Of those four seats, three received enough qualified candidates to hold an election in May: Seats in the School and Local Government divisions, and a retiree seat. As the sole candidate for the Judicial division seat, the Trustees appointed Hon. Rebecca R. Freyre to another four-year term in that seat.

Ballots will go out to active members in the School and Local Government divisions, as well as retirees in the State, Local Government, and Judicial divisions in early May, and the Board will announce election results at its June 16 meeting.

Legislative update

PERA Public and Government Affairs Manager Michael Steppat and Chief Investment Officer and Chief Operating Officer Amy C. McGarrity provided the Board with an update on legislative activity at the State Capitol. The Colorado General Assembly got underway in early January, and so far, lawmakers have introduced more than 450 bills.

There are three bills pertaining to PERA that are still under consideration in the legislature: SB23-056 aims to fully recompense PERA for the state’s missed 2020 payment of $225 million to PERA; SB23-016 would require PERA to include in its annual Investment Stewardship Report a description of climate-related investment risks, impacts and strategies; and SB23-163 would reclassify wildlife officers and parks and recreation officers employed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife as safety officers for the purpose of determining their PERA benefits.

The Board also discussed HB23-1016, which would provide a temporary tax credit of $700 for public service retirees in Colorado. That bill was introduced in January as is currently awaiting consideration by the House Appropriations Committee.

Four other PERA-related bills have been postponed indefinitely.

READ MORE: 2023 Proposed Legislation Status

The current legislative session will wrap up by May 8.

Strategic planning

The Board continued its work developing a new strategic plan that will guide the PERA Board and staff into the future. As part of that process, Trustees reviewed a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the organization) analysis and discussed the results of that process. The SWOT analysis will help inform the Board’s work of identifying goals to pursue over the next half-decade and beyond.

The Board will continue working on a draft plan throughout the year.

The Board’s next scheduled meeting is June 16.