Legislative Report #05-23

Report 05-23
July 8, 2005

CONFERENCE NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE

Members of the joint conference committee continued to meet this week in an effort to resolve differences between Senate and House versions of the state budget. There are indications that few issues remain to be resolved, in particular the proposed increases and extensions of state taxes.

Meetings of legislative standing committees have been reduced to allow budget negotiators to finish their work. If the budget conferees cannot reach agreement before July 20, the General Assembly must enact another continuing resolution to maintain the operations of state government.

STATUS OF BILLS

We have received a number of calls from members inquiring as to the status of various bills that were mentioned in earlier editions of the Legislative Report. Following is a status report on several of these bills.

House Bill 1653: Mandatory COLAs for TSERS Retirees
This bill would require the General Assembly to provide annual COLAs for retired teachers and state employees equal to the rate of inflation as defined by the Consumer Price Index. The bill was debated by the House Pensions and Retirement Committee and it was decided that further study of mandatory COLAs would be needed.

House Bill 402: Purchase Military Service/Retirement
The bill would allow both active and retired governmental employees to purchase active duty military service to be credited to creditable service used in calculating retirement benefits. The bill remains in the House Appropriations Committee.

Senate Bill 751: State Health Plan Options
This bill would allow the Board of Trustees of the State Health Plan to establish an optional PPO for Plan members. The bill was approved by the Senate on June 1 and sent to the House where it was assigned to the Committee on Health.