The measures would assure new government hires could participate in the same retirement plans as current employees and would use money from lottery games and horse tracks to make the state's required annual contribution for pensions.
The Democratic-led House voted largely along party lines to pass the legislation, which contains provisions the GOP-controlled Senate opposes.
Democratic state Rep. Brent Yonts of Greenville said the key component of the legislation is requiring the state to always make its required contributions to the retirement systems, which now have a $33 billion unfunded liability.
