Legislative Report #06-06

Report 06-06
June 9, 2006

HOUSE BUDGET NEARS COMPLETION

House leaders worked through this week to complete work on the proposed amendments to the 2006-07 state budget. Although some of the details of the budget were made public on Thursday afternoon, there was no new information on what the House will propose regarding Cost-Of-Living Adjustments for retired state and local government employees. We expect that the entire budget will be presented to the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday morning, July 13.

Several important bills cleared committee or received floor approval this week. A summary of House and Senate activities is presented below.

HOUSE PENSIONS AND RETIREMENT COMMITTEE APPROVES BILLS

House Bill 2652: Retirement System COLAs
(primary sponsors-Reps. Lucas and Bell)

This bill would authorize a 3.4% COLA for state retirees and a 2.8% COLA for retired local government employees effective July 1. The bill received unanimous committee approval and was re-referred to the Appropriations Committee.

House Bill 1889: Increase Fire and Rescue Pensions
(primary sponsor- Rep. Howard)

This bill increases the monthly pension benefit from $163 to $165 for retired volunteer firefighters and rescue squad workers. The committee gave the bill a favorable report and re-referred it to Appropriations. The Senate included an identical raise in the proposed 2006-07 budget.

House Bill 2113: Increase Maximum National Guard Pension
(primary sponsor-Rep. Holliman)

The bill authorizes an increase in the monthly maximum pension benefit from $150 to $225 and the minimum benefit from $75 to $112.50. The bill was approved and re-referred to the Appropriations Committee.

SENATE APPROVES CHANGES TO LOCAL RETIREMENT BOARD

The Senate approved an amended version of House Bill 1237 this week on second reading. This bill which was introduced last year expands the Board of Trustees of the Local Governmental Employees’ Retirement System by adding four new members to be appointed by the Governor. The new members would include: a county manager, a city/town manager, an active local government employee, and a retired local government employee. Following third reading, the bill has been returned to the House for concurrence.

SPECIAL THANKS!

We appreciate all of our members who responded to our request to contact their Representatives in the House. Many of you provided copies to us of the e-mails and letters that you sent. Thanks for your efforts. We will know early next week if the House will respond favorably.