The Governor’s Early Retirement Incentive costs half a billion dollars more than a hiring freeze and has the potential to damage the essential missions of many state agencies.
Pensions & Benefits
benefit improvements, disability reform, early retirement incentives, long term perspective, municipal health insurance, opeb reform, pension reform, public/private comparisons
An Act establishing a family and medical leave and temporary disability leave insurance program
Several constituents urged Senator Brownsberger to co-sponsor SD1853, An Act establishing a family and medical leave and temporary disability leave insurance program. The Senator has signed on to the bill as a co-sponsor. Here is more information about SD1853.
Health Benefits for Public Retirees
At a recent town financial forum in Belmont, a number of residents questioned whether we should continue to promise subsidized health plans for retirees from state and local government jobs. In this post I’d like to sketch a possible response to the problem and get some feedback.
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Cathy and Stan Rezendes in Arlington asked me to pass on the following statement: As outlined in the Boston Globe article on April 13, 2014, the executive director of PBGC has stated: “Unless Congress acts–more than 1 million people will lose their pension”. Further, “if Congress allows the PBGC to get the money and authority …
Remote Participation for Disability Commissions
Last week the Senate passed legislation, which I sponsored, to allow disability commissions to authorize remote participation by their members. This required a modification to the open meeting law. The text of the bill was modified by the Committee on State Administration before passage by the Senate. The key language appears below: A local commission …
Continue reading “Remote Participation for Disability Commissions”
Pension Protection for State Workers
Recently read an article on the pro business website “MarketWatch” where one of their columnist was questioning why the pension fund for Police and Firefighters in Detroit was being threatened by the impending bankruptcy proceedings when the Detroit Police and Firefighters Pension Fund was better funded (77%) than most state pension funds (including the MA …