Legislative Report #07-21

Report 07-21
June 15, 2007

The pace of committee meetings slowed this week as budget conferees met in subcommittees to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of the state budget. The key differences involve the continuation of temporary taxes, capital project funding, and Medicaid relief for county governments.

Many of our members have contacted legislators during the past two weeks to ask that the General Assembly provide a higher Cost-Of-Living Adjustment for state retirees and to promote a careful approach to the conversion of the current State Health Plan. We urge all of you to continue these efforts. Please contact your members of the House and the Senate once again and ask that they support our position on these two issues.

The House and Senate versions of the budget provide only a 2.0% COLA for retired teachers and state employees. Usually, the budget conferees cannot deal with items where both House and Senate budgets are identical. However, these rules governing the conference committee can change. If the Senate were to agree to the House position to extend the temporary taxes, there would be additional money (as much as $300 million) available for appropriation. Raising the state retiree COLA to 3.0% would require an additional $30 million. The rate of inflation during the past calendar year was 2.5%.

State Health Plan Conversion

The Senate budget includes provisions to replace the current indemnity plan with an alternative health benefit plan by July 1, 2008. We have asked the budget conferees to incorporate the principles listed below in the new plan.

1. The General Assembly must maintain oversight of the process as the new plan is developed and implemented. The new plan should be reviewed and approved by the General Assembly before it is implemented.
2. There should be adequate time allowed for the transition to the new plan to allow education and counseling of members. Implementation should be delayed until July 1, 2009.
3. The new plan must maintain the principle of providing health insurance coverage for retired and active employees on a non-contributory basis (no premiums charged to members).
4. The new plan must provide benefits and coverage that are comparable to the existing indemnity plan.
5. The provider network of the new plan must be as comprehensive as possible. There should be a waiver provision to assure that members living in isolated areas where preferred provider services are not available may use out-of-network providers without penalty.

Key Decision Makers

The full budget conference committee includes a total of 114 members of the General Assembly. Thus, it is important to contact your members of the House and Senate. However, it also is important to express your views to the appropriations committee leaders since they will make the final decisions regarding compensation and the State Health Plan. A list of these leaders with telephone numbers and e-mail addresses is presented below.

House
Rep. Michaux     (919) 715-2528          Mickeym@ncleg.net
Rep. Adams       (919) 733-5902         Almaa@ncleg.net
Rep. Alexander (919) 733-5807         Martha@ncleg.net
Rep. Crawford  (919) 733-5824         Jimc@ncleg.net
Rep. Haire        (919) 715-3005         Philliph@ncleg.net
Rep. Jeffus       (919) 733-5191         Maggiej@ncleg.net
Rep. Tolson     (919) 715-3024          Joet@ncleg.net
Rep. Yongue    (919) 733-5821         Douglasy@ncleg.net

Senate
Sen. Dalton       (919) 715-3038        Walterd@ncleg.net
Sen. Garrou     (919) 733-5620        Lindag@ncleg.net
Sen. Hagan      (919) 733-5856        Kayh@ncleg.net