House panel draft no longer ties retirement to age

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Public workers would have to work two years longer, but they won’t have to turn 62 to retire with full benefits under tweaks made to a House panel’s draft for shoring up the state’s pension system.

Rep. Jim Merrill said members agreed Wednesday to remove the age threshold from the plan. The draft would require employees to work 30 years, up from 28. But retirement would not be tied to age.

The House members agreed to apply the extra two-year requirement only to new hires. They also settled on a way to give retirees cost-of-living increases. An increase would kick in automatically only if the pension portfolio’s rate of return averaged above 7.5 percent over five years.

The panel’s work will likely be introduced as a bill later this month.