Pension reform is officially back on the table in the Pennsylvania Legislature.

The state Senate Appropriations Committee has scheduled a meeting for Sunday evening to amend in proposed language of a long-sought reform to the state's major public employee pension plans.

The latest effort is a continuation of work that started in the 2015-16 legislative session, but ended last fall with the Republican-led House and Senate unable to attain passage of a common plan.

Quiet negotiations resumed earlier this year, and have now apparently resulted in language that will accomplish a cherished GOP goal of moving state workers and school teachers into a 401(k)-style retirement plan.

While that is not likely to address the severe budgetary hangover created by a major enhancement of pension benefits in 2001, legislative leaders have maintained that it will keep the current situation from getting dramatically worse.

The 2001 changes - and a cascade of reactions that have followed - have caused the tax-funded cost of Pennsylvania's pension obligations to explode from under $1 billion in 2010 to a projected $6.4 billion in fiscal 2017-18.

Details of the new reform plan - including projected long-term saving, if any, or the effect on future hires' retirement security - were not immediately available.

But sources close to the negotiations have suggested it will create three options for newly-hired state employees and public school teachers starting in 2019.

The options include two types of a "hybrid" plan that pairs a small guaranteed benefit based on years service and salary, with a defined contribution plan of the type commonly used at many private sector businesses.

Those hybrid plans would have slightly different formulas, based on the level of payroll deductions for retirement the worker authorizes from his or her regular paycheck.

The third option, sources said, would be a straight-up defined contribution plan.

While the proposal is said not to make any changes to benefits plans for current employees, they would have the option, sources said, to choose one of the three new options going forward.

What seems to be different politically this time is that House Republicans - who have been unable to pass pension legislation on their own in the last several legislative sessions - may have finally breached what has been a solid wall of opposition in the House Democratic caucus.

If there is even a small level of support for a reform bill from the Democrats, the bill's chances of reaching Gov. Tom Wolf's desk are greatly enhanced.

Wolf, in a rather big pivot from his candidate days when he often said the state pension plans' design wasn't the problem, has indicated a willingness to sign a plan design change now.

"We have the matrix of a good pension reform bill," he told reporters after an appearance this winter. "... I'm happy willing to sign a pension reform bill that makes it to my desk."

Wolf's public sector union allies are anxiously awaiting more details on the plan.

Reached for this story, David Fillman, executive director of District Council 13 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said he could not comment yet because he has not seen final version of the plan.

AFSCME Council 13 is the largest of the state employees' unions.

If the amendment goes in Sunday evening, Senate Republican spokeswoman Jennifer Kocher said, plans are for a final passage vote on Monday. The bill would then move to the state House for consideration later in the week.