Colorado lawmakers eye term limits, transparency rules for PERA board

The Colorado state pension board would be subject to term limits and new transparency requirements under a measure introduced in the state legislature earlier this month.

The proposal, Senate Bill 147, comes in response to growing concerns from state pension members about how their retirement funds are being managed.

Years of benefit cuts and contribution hikes have helped improve the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association’s shaky finances since a landmark reform package was adopted in 2018. But the changes have also left workers and public agencies paying more than ever for a pension that provides less and less to its retirees.

Against that backdrop, critics say PERA’s Board of Trustees has insulated itself from its members and the general public, limiting opportunities for public comment on key policy decisions and failing to post board materials online ahead of meetings.

While past legislative attempts to require more transparency from PERA have been dead on arrival at the legislature — largely dismissed as a partisan attack on the pension from the political right — this year’s effort has wide-ranging support from public employers, labor unions and retiree groups, as well as lawmakers across the political spectrum.

“I think it’s common sense stuff,” said Karen Wick, the program manager for Secure PERA, a coalition that represents PERA members, retirees and public sector agencies. “This bill, at the heart of it, is elevating some things that PERA is already doing, but also some things that just put it back in line with what else we expect from our institutions and for participants.”

The measure’s sponsors, Republican Sen. Byron Pelton of Sterling and Democratic Sen. Chris Kolker of Centennial, say it would require PERA to meet the same transparency standards as the local government entities that it serves. It would classify PERA’s board as a local public body under the Colorado Open Meetings Law, and require it to post agendas online with “specific information,” such as presentations and any other documents that could be considered at the meeting.

The measure also would require PERA to post certain financial information online, including its annual budget, employee salaries and bonuses, and what it spends on third-party consultants. Some of the required documents, like its annual financial reports, are already available on its website.

PERA officials told The Colorado Sun they had taken an “amend” position on the bill, meaning they will seek changes as it moves through the legislative process. But when asked, they would not say what provisions in particular they have a problem with.

“We appreciate the opportunity to engage with the bill sponsors and have no comment at this time,” PERA spokesman Patrick von Keyserling said in a statement.

Wick said PERA used to be more transparent, providing links to detailed information on each agenda item that allowed meeting observers to follow along. But in recent years, public documents have disappeared from its website.

Moreover, pension members say the board itself seems increasingly unresponsive to their concerns, even as retirement checks shrink and a higher share of worker paychecks get deducted to pay for PERA benefits.

The board’s website, for instance, doesn’t provide any individual contact information for the 16 board trustees, some of whom are elected by the members themselves. There’s only a generic board email address that is managed by PERA’s staff.

Hilary Glasgow, the executive director of Colorado WINS, the state employees’ union, says she hears regularly from state workers and retirees who are concerned about what’s happening with their retirement benefits, but feel like they don’t have access to clear, understandable information from PERA.

“There is a lack of responsiveness,” Glasgow said. “I think our members feel like there’s not an accountability factor. How do you hold them accountable if you don’t really have access (to public information) and there’s no mechanism for that? That’s not the way it should be.”

After complaints from members, PERA officials in recent months have pledged to improve transparency, and began posting recordings of their meetings on YouTube.

Today, the board’s website has meeting materials dating back to September 2024, while meeting minutes go back to January 2024. Its annual financial reports date back to 2019, with older documents available by request.

By comparison, the public can access meeting minutes on the city of Denver’s website as far back as 2010 and financial information dating back to 2014.

Jeff Roberts, the executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, praised the effort to beef up transparency requirements at PERA. And, he said, the state should go a step further and require local governments to put more of their own meeting materials online.

“You shouldn’t have to (file open records requests) for documents like that,” Roberts said. “Those are things that a lot of people are interested in, they’re going to be discussed in a public meeting, make them available online.”

The PERA bill goes beyond transparency.

The proposal would limit board members to two consecutive terms on the board, but former members could rejoin the board via election or appointment after a hiatus. Two current members, Marcus Pennell, a Jefferson County school teacher, and Denver City Auditor Tim O’Brien, have served longer than two terms, while a few others are in their second term.

It would also make clear that the board retains final say over policy decisions delegated to its staff, after PERA investigated one of its board members last year for attempting to overturn a staff decision.