As the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee prepares for its “decision meeting” this afternoon and evening, the basic structure of its expected pension shift proposal has become fairly widely understood.

See the four year cost breakdown here.

The basics of the plan are:

-shifts the full employer “normal cost” to county governments (the normal cost excludes the escalating contribution rates arising from the state’s underfunded status)

-shifts these costs over a four-year phase-in period (the Governor’s proposals effected an immediate shift of $239m for FY 2013, the Senate plan shifts about $68m in FY 2013

-the Senate plans to also include a number of “offsets” proposed by the Governor to provide resources for counties to absorb the new costs (details to come)