A local lawmaker has proposed budgetary changes that start with the General Assembly.  Wilton State Senator Toni Boucher has introduced a bill about retirement and health care benefits for certain state employees, including the Governor and all state legislators. 

The bill realigns non-union state employee benefits to private sector levels. 

Boucher says employee compensation makes up almost 40 percent of state spending.  Under the existing defined benefit plans and retiree health care plans, the state faces more than $50 billion in future unfunded liabilities because taxpayers must assume the risks of actuarial underperformance.  If the General Assembly is serious about solving the state’s fiscal crisis, she says her colleagues must recognize that the state can no longer afford these generous benefit packages. 

The bill would require non-union state employees to convert to 401K style pension plans and participate in a high-deductible health care plan.  Unionized state employees and retirees would continue receiving the benefits spelled out in their pre-existing union contracts.