Letter to the Editor: Clarifying SF 45 for IPERS employees

To the Editor:

It is an honor and privilege to represent you in Iowa Senate District 28 and I appreciate your support. I’ve received numerous calls about a letter to the editor written by former educator Steve Paul and published in last week’s paper. In the letter he asked people to call me and warned that SF 45 was going to take away IPERS from all State employees.

According to Mr. Paul, “Breitbach’s party is pushing this change. This is being done under the table.” He failed to mention only one Senator proposed this bill, it had no co-sponsors, no subcommittee meeting and no support to move forward in the Senate. The bill would have affected Chapter 411 employees, such as peace officers and firefighters, but not IPERS employees.

The bill was intended to improve Chapter 411 employee retirement options but created confusion, so Senator Zaun withdrew his bill from consideration. I would encourage everyone, including Mr. Paul, to look up SF 45 and read the bill in its entirety by going to www.legis.iowa.gov.

I hope Mr. Paul was not intentionally trying to mislead people with his letter and I’m saddened that he caused so much concern for hard working State employees and retired employees that rely on IPERS. As a member of the Permanent Statutory Public Retirement Systems Committee, I am charged with protecting all public retirement systems, not destroying them.

Feel free to contact me at any time by phone at 563-920-7399 or e-mail at michael.breitbach@legis.iowa.gov.

Senator Mike Breitbach
District 28