The Colorado state legislature begins its 2016 legislative session today, with pensions and retirement security both on the agenda for this year’s session. During the break between the 2015 and 2016 legislative sessions, three reports were released that looked at the cost effectiveness, efficiency, and funded status of Colorado’s pension systems.

One of the Colorado reports- conducted by independent firm Gabriel, Roeder, Smith, & Company- found that Colorado PERA is more efficient and uses dollars more effectively than other types of retirement plans in use today. Specifically, it compared Colorado’s hybrid defined benefit pension with a side-by-side defined benefit/defined contribution system; a “cash balance” plan; and a defined contribution 401(k)-style plan. The report concluded that PERA is more effective at replacing income in retirement than any of the other plans, regardless of the number of years worked.

Colorado PERA is also more cost efficient than any of the other plans. Most notably, the report found that PERA can deliver the same amount of retirement benefits for less than half the cost of a defined contribution 401(k)-style plan. This report continues a trend of recent reports finding that traditional defined benefit pensions are more efficient than defined contribution plans.

Colorado’s public employees and retirees are participating in a financially sound, cost efficient retirement plan. Lawmakers in CO should move on to other considerations – like how they can expand access to retirement security for those who don’t have it offered through work, using PERA as a model for expanding retirement security to other Coloradans.