Nebraska lawmakers overrode a gubernatorial veto, passing a bill to transfer the administrative duties of the $1.4 billion Omaha School Employees' Retirement System to a state board.
In a 31-18 vote Wednesday, state senators approved a bill permitting the state's Public Employees Retirement Board, Lincoln, to take over day-to-day operations of OSERS from Omaha Public Schools beginning in 2024. The investment responsibilities for OSERS were transferred in 2016 to the Nebraska Investment Council, Lincoln, which oversees $34 billion.
To override a gubernatorial veto in Nebraska requires 30 Senate votes.
Gov. Pete Ricketts, a Republican, said in a veto letter Tuesday that the legislation "is poor public policy and continues the slippery slope of the state taxpayer bailout to the OPS pension plan." He urged lawmakers to sustain his veto in a video message Monday.
But Sen. Mark Kolterman, who introduced the bill in January, has said the state will not assume any financial responsibility or liability for OSERS' $848 million funding shortfall. Mr. Kolterman introduced the motion to override Mr. Ricketts' veto Wednesday.
In 2020, a study Mr. Kolterman initiated determined that transferring the management of OSERS to the state board would result in an annual management cost savings of about $250,000, according to Mr. Kolterman.
