The state budget approved today includes a new approach to health care negotiation for municipal employees. It streamlines today’s very cumbersome process while setting reasonable boundaries on the choices that municipal managers can make and assuring some sharing of savings with employees.
Government Reform
children and families, election laws, ethics rules, insider jobs, pensions & benefits, structure and operations, transparency
Group Insurance Commission Costs
One of the most important subjects in the conversation about municipal health care has been the risk of high out-of-pocket costs. The GIC has just released a study which sheds light on this issue.
Pension Proposal wins Prize
A panel of judges for the Pioneer Institute’s Better Government Competition has awarded me their 2011 First Prize for my pension reform proposal.
Interesting article on unions and pensions
Will, Interesting article here, partly on recents trends in union-busting, but also on public employee pensions. Proposes, in the final paragraphs, that perhaps pensions should be put to a vote, just like bonds. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/mayjune_2011/features/the_fallacy_of_union_busting029139.php I’m not certain this would work well, because the public tends to have anti-Keynesian impulses (“I’m cutting back, so should the …
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healthcare vote
We send our elected representatives to the State House to make hard decisions. They are usually not popular with everyone. Representative Brownsberger has listened to all sides of this issue and made the best choice possible. Saying no is the hardest thing any of us has to do. Will, your experience in town government shows …
Played by the rules
Rep. Brownsberger, You said in the posting the Unions played by the rules but you have chosen to change them and that is not good faith bargaining. I read your posting that because you are a legislator, you can change the rules. As a union member who has negotiated contracts for my local, I played …