“The changes will insure the long term stability of our five public retirement systems and make sure that public retirees and active members, once they retire, will have a benefit package that they can count on,” Schuring says.

Schuring says the plan will not do away with the retire-and-rehire practice, which allows public employees to collect a pension and get a paycheck for a job at the same time.

Schuring says he’s been talking with House and Senate leaders and believes the new plan will be approved quickly. Lawmakers have been debating pension reform for more than a year, and at least one of the pension systems is reportedly losing a million dollars for each day that a pension bill isn’t passed.