FRANKFORT,Ky- Governor Matt Bevin has made to changes to his pension reform plan but lawmakers still aren’t completely on board.

Bevin detailed four changes he made to his legislation which among several things allows lawmakers to address any issues that arise and provide funding before any quasi-governmental agencies has to make a decision on their plan during the 2020 General Assembly session.

Despite that Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, says members he’s spoken to still aren’t over that fence yet.  

“I think he’s made some concessions to legislative concerns. I spoke to a member in the House this morning who was on the fence and this member felt like this was a step in the right direction, especially the date change to April after next year’s General Assembly,” he told reporters Thursday. “I’m hopeful once members have a change to digest it they will realize that we need to come in, pass this bill, and provide the relief possible for the next six months knowing that we’re going to have address this again in January and probably the next couple of years. Again, I don’t think we’re going to get a perfect bill on this that’s going to please everybody, because what is going to affect one of these agencies in Western Kentucky isn’t going to affect an agency in Eastern Kentucky.”

Democrats in both the House and the Senate still aren’t on board. House Minority Floor Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, wants a special session — but only to pass a rate contribution freeze until lawmakers get back in January.

“I don’t think there is anything in those four or five changes that he’s recommended that has really wavered any of our members from basically being opposed to the bill to being for it. They have a lot of questions, it’s a very complex issue, myself along with our caucus, we believe the simplest thing to do, and the responsible thing to do is to come into a special session, freeze the rate at 49 percent, allow the pension oversight board to continue to meet during this interim, we’ll be back here in 2020 to be able to deal with any modifications or adjustments that may be recommended by stakeholders, or legislators, or oversight board,” Adkins said. “The problem with the governor’s bill is really the changes he’s making with employees who are already members of the Kentucky Retirement System that work for quasi governments and work for universities  and to offer these opt-outs or opt-ins really nobody knows the calculation or the impact on the system.”

Sen. Reggie Thomas, D-Lexington, also says the changes Bevin made don’t change his vote a yes. He says he’s on board with his colleagues in the house that they need to be focusing on a freeze while continuing to fully fund the system.

“I think if adopt Governor Bevin’s plan we are significantly hurting our pension system, we’re putting our state  government workers, rape crisis center workers, child advocacy center workers  in peril and doing more damage than good to our system,”  Thomas said. “Let’s keep the freeze in place, let’s look at where we are now and see if we can come up with a better fix for those workers, and let’s stay the course with fully funding our pensions. We’re on track now, so if we are doing the right thing now, why make changes?”

The story is the same when it comes to Republicans in the House. House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, says while Bevin made changes, he didn’t make the one change that is holding up votes in the House. Members want to see a provision added into his bill that allows Tier 1 and Tier 2 employees the option to stay in the traditional pension plan.

“We are acutely aware of the magnitude of this issue. We know how important this issue is to not only the agencies, but also their employees, the Kentuckians they serve and the Kentucky taxpayers who foot the bill. As a matter of fact, we began working towards a solution after we passed a temporary fix in 2018. Since then, we have met with representatives of everyone impacted by this situation,” Osborne said in a release. “The bill we passed, which the Governor ultimately vetoed, was the result of countless hours of exhaustive discussions to reach an agreement that we felt met legal requirements and provided a solution that benefited everyone.”

Sen. Thomas isn’t confident lawmakers will reach a solution before that July 1 deadline, when asked if he believes they’ll be called into special session in the next coming weeks he said “no.”