Missouri lawmakers are being asked again this year to allow some local retirement plans to join Missouri's Local Government Retirement System - if other employees of that local government already are covered by LAGERS.
The shift would affect only "legacy" plans - those retirement systems created in the past and still serving people, but no longer accepting new beneficiaries.
Jefferson City has such a plan for retired firefighters, board Vice Chairman Norm Robinson told the state Senate's General Laws and Pensions Committee on Tuesday.
"All of the other (city) employees - the general employees, the police, the active firefighters - are already in LAGERS," Robinson explained. "We have this separate group of retired firefighters and surviving spouses.
"We have 49 retired firefighters, and 10 survivors out here in this separate plan that we administer and, for some time, we've wanted to move those folks into the LAGERS system."
LAGERS Director Keith Hughes told the senators: "The LAGERS board is in unanimous support of Senate Bill 283. The bill simply permits LAGERS to administer the existing legacy pension plans for departments that place new hires into LAGERS.
"It is voluntary in nature, and requires the local government and LAGERS to enter into an agreement."
The bill also requires the local fund seeking to make the transfer to remain responsible for providing enough money to pay the benefits previously promised.
"There would be no impact on the benefit of our retirees and survivors," Robinson - who's a retired director of the Highway Department/Highway Patrol Retirement System - told the committee. "The only change they would see is, that they would receive their monthly benefit from LAGERS instead of from the city.
"It's no big deal, there."
The Jefferson City Firefighters Pension Plan is "fully funded at $18 million - a fund which, if added into LAGERS' other funds for investment purposes - could grow more quickly, benefiting both the local fund and LAGERS."
Also, the transfer could be a big deal for the city government, Robinson told the committee.
No other city officials testified Tuesday, but City Counselor Drew Hilpert later told the News Tribune: "Both the Firemen's Pension Board and the City Staff believe this legislation would be a great benefit to the Pension and the city - to the pension because our retirees would be able to utilize the tremendous financial stability and assets of LAGERS.
"And to the city because there would no longer be a risk the city might have to take over the pension obligations if the assets become insufficient someday."
Jefferson City's council has never voted on the idea, and Hilpert emphasized he wasn't speaking for them - although the law would require the council's approval as part of the transfer request.
The law also gives the LAGERS board the right to refuse an application.
Lawmakers passed a similar bill last year - but Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed it, saying it "would place the authority to exercise (the transfer) option solely in the hands of the political subdivision employer, even if the transfer was opposed by the plan trustees" or if the process violated provisions of the local government's charter.
In this year's version, Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, told the committee: "We now require a vote by the active members of the plan and then a concurring resolution from the pension board to approve the move - that will insure that the members of the plan have a say in who administers the plan."
The law also says the transfer can't be made until after local officials make "the necessary changes to the statute, city ordinance, city charter, or governing documents of the employer's prior plan."
Hughes told the committee: "We believe that we've addressed the governor's concerns."
Kehoe said the bill has no costs for the state, and is "very transparent and out in the open."
The committee took no action on the bill Tuesday.