Legislative Report #05-17

Report 05-17
May 27, 2005

HOUSE BUDGET DELIBERATIONS CONTINUE

The leaders of the House Appropriations Committee continued informal meetings this week to develop the House response to the Senate's budget proposal. It appears that the schedule for adoption of the House budget will be pushed back by one week. The House likely will act on the budget by April 9.

There are indications that the House will consider Cost-Of-Living Adjustments for both retired and active employees of 2.5%. The Senate budget included only a 2.0% COLA that required an appropriation of $13.8 million to supplement available gains in the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System. Approval of the higher COLA by the House would require $12.7 million more than the Senate appropriation.

ACTION ON BILLS

This was another quiet week with regard to pending legislation of interest to our members. Only one of the bills that we currently are tracking received consideration during the week.

House Bill 1524 which was summarized in last week's report (Report 05-16) was scheduled for consideration on the House floor. The bill formalizes the process to be used by the Department of State Treasurer in selecting providers of supplemental group insurance plans.

The bill was placed on the calendar for consideration on May 26. However, the bill was removed from the calendar and re-referred to the House Committee on Pensions and Retirement for further discussion.

NEXT WEEK'S SCHEDULE

Both the Senate and the House pensions committees are scheduled to meet on Wednesday, June 2. A summary of the committees' actions will be presented in our next Legislative Report.