Legislative Report #07-18

Report 07-18
May 25, 2007

LEGISLATURE REACHES CROSSOVER DEADLINE

Thursday marked the crossover deadline for the 2007 Session of the General Assembly. Bills that did not involve appropriations, taxes, or fees had to be approved in the chamber where they originated in order to be eligible for further consideration this year. Two bills that had attracted the concern of retired state and local employees failed to meet the deadline and cannot be approved during this session.

House Bill 1806 which would have transferred the authority for decisions involving the investment of retirement systems funds from the State Treasurer to the Board of Trustees of the Retirement Systems was debated by the Pensions and Retirement Committee on Wednesday. The bill’s sponsor asked that the House Bill 1806 be withdrawn from the Committee calendar following a lengthy period of critical questioning by members of the Committee.

House Bill 1775 would have transferred the investment authority for assets of the retirement systems from the Treasurer to a newly established 11-member Investment Management Board appointed by the Governor and the General Assembly. This bill was referred to the Rules Committee and remained there at the crossover deadline.

Both of these bills were opposed by our Association, the N.C. Retired School Personnel group, and the N.C. Association of Educators. We appreciate the efforts of our members who contacted House members to express opposition to these bills.

SENATE CONSIDERATION OF THE BUDGET CONTINUES

Senate leaders continued to work through this week on the Senate version of the state budget for 2007-09. It appears that the Senate will not extend the temporary state income and sales taxes that were enacted in 2001. The House budget bill proposed to extend both of these taxes for another two years. The temporary taxes generate approximately $300 million in revenue.

Now that the crossover deadline has passed, we expect the Senate to finalize the budget in the next several days. We urge you to contact your Senators as soon as possible if you have not already done so. Please ask them to support a Cost-Of-Living Adjustment for state retirees that is equal to the pay increase that the Senate provides to active state employees. Retired employees are affected in the same way as active employees by inflationary factors, such as rising energy, food, and medical costs. Please remember that the budget adopted by the House contained only a 2.0% COLA for state retirees.

OTHER BILLS OF INTEREST

Senate Bill 720: Contributory Death Benefit/Open Enrollment
(Sen. Atwater)

The Senate approved this bill on May 21 and sent it to the House for consideration. As reported in previous editions of the Legislative Report, Senate Bill 720 would allow retired state and local government employees who did not elect to participate in the Contributory Death Benefit plan at the time of retirement another opportunity to enroll.

The bill sets a 4-month open enrollment period (February 1 through May 31, 2008). The Retirement Systems Division is required to notify all eligible retirees of this opportunity. Monthly premiums would be based on the age of the retiree at the time of enrollment.