HARRISBURG — State lawmakers approved legislation Thursday that will cut retirement benefits for future hires in public schools and state government as part of a package of changes designed to slash risk and reap modest long-term savings from the state's deeply indebted public-sector pension systems.

The state House voted 143-53 to send the landmark pension overhaul bill to Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, who plans to sign it Monday.

The cost of the two multibillion-dollar public pension systems has become a significant drag on state government finances and is widely blamed for driving up property taxes that largely fund public education in Pennsylvania.

The legislation won't help much with those costs for many years, if at all, critics said. Debt in the two plans is currently estimated at more than $60 billion and growing, a debt that is tied to the benefits of current employees and retirees.

During floor debate, Rep. John McGinnis, R-Blair, urged his colleagues to directly attack the pension debt, characterizing the bill's changes as “synonymous with a phenomenon called kicking the can down the road.”

“Our approach today in dealing with a massive debt problem is to let it ride and let it get more massive,” said McGinnis, one of just four Republicans to vote against the bill. “We're not making history, we are repeating it.”

Supporters called pension costs Pennsylvania's biggest financial problem and argued that the bill would lower the burden on taxpayers when stock market downturns trigger the need for more money to keep the plans solvent.

“People talk about a risk shift — this is a risk shift,” said Rep. Warren Kampf, R-Chester. “What is the risk? The risk is that the thing that is happening to us and all the people of Pennsylvania right now will happen in the future.”

Wolf and legislative leaders worked on the proposal for months behind closed doors, following four years of attempts by Senate Republicans to end or reduce the traditional pension benefit for future public employees.

The systems' precarious financial position is largely the result of decisions the General Assembly and governors made more than a decade ago to boost benefits, including retroactively, and to let the state and school districts go years without paying their share.

The bill would not diminish benefits for current employees and retirees. The new plans would start to take effect for those hired in 2019, including judges or lawmakers who start their service after that date.

For the first time, new hires would have to choose from among plans that include a 401(k)-style benefit. The traditional pension benefit would shrink by more than one-third. Current employees can choose to join the new plans.

The Pennsylvania Legislature has approved legislation to reduce the traditional pension benefit for future state government and public school employees in favor of a new 401(k)-style benefit. Among Details of the bill:BENEFIT COMPARISONUnder current law, a school employee hired today pays 7.5 percent of salary into a traditional pension plan with a benefit accrual rate of 2 percent. A state employee hired today pays 6.25 percent of salary for the same terms. For people hired before 2011, pension benefits are generally more generous.Under the bill, new employees would have a choice of three plans: two that combine a traditional pension benefit and a 401(k)-style employer contribution and one that is entirely a 401(k)-style plan.For the default plan that provides the biggest long-term benefit, a school employee hired after July 1, 2019, would contribute 8.25 percent of salary and receive a traditional pension plan with a benefit accrual rate of 1.25 percent and a 401(k)-style employer contribution of 2.25 percent. A state employee hired after Jan. 1, 2019, would get the same terms for that plan.OTHER CHANGESThe normal retirement age would rise from 65 to 67. The traditional pension benefit would be based on an average of the five highest years of salary, instead of three years, to smooth out spikes that can inflate pension benefits.EMPLOYEES, RETIREESThe bill does not reduce benefits for more than 700,000 current employees and the retirees in the two retirement systems, including lawmakers and judges when they are re-elected. It also does not force them to enroll in one of the new plans.PAYOUTSUnder the bill, a school or state employee retiring on a salary of $60,000 would get an annual retirement benefit of about $33,000 to $34,000 from the default plan after working 35 years, according to the Legislature’s nonpartisan Independent Fiscal Office. That compares with $40,500 under current law.