There’s a thoughtful discussion on On Point today about how to handle guaranteed pensions in the face of economic volatility: http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/07/pension-crisis They touch on pensions’ contributions towards budget deficits, how some public employees game their respective systems, and how public salaries differ from private salaries. It’s worth a listen if you’re interested in the issue.
Government Reform
children and families, election laws, ethics rules, insider jobs, pensions & benefits, structure and operations, transparency
Massachusetts Freedom to Vote Act
I realize there’s not much time left in the current legislative session and that there are probably more than a few good bills that won’t quite make it through the legislative process in time. I hope that the Massachusetts Freedom to Vote Act (H 651 and S. 348), can be one of those that do …
Municipal Relief Bill
The conference committee negotiating a municipal relief package reported a bill last night and the House accepted the report on what turned out to be straight party line vote.
Is the Governor’s Council Obsolete?
I’ve always wondered – why do we need a Governor’s Council? What duties do they perform that could not be covered by other existing bodies? As far as I can tell: approval of gubernatorial appointments (including judges), prison pardons, and something about payments from the treasury. How much does this cost, in terms of salary, …
State pension obligations
Will, There was an article in Saturday’s NYT entitled “In Budget Crisis States Take Aim at Pension Costs“. It quotes a pension expert who finds that states like Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana and New Jersey are less than 10 years from exhausting their pension funds. However, as the article says “…paying public pensions straight out of …
Municipal Health Insurance in Conference Committee
What is the status of the health insurance bill? I remain very concerned that this will be done in a way that allows municipalities to make unilateral changes in negotiated labor agreements — I gather that such a power is in fact a provision of the Senate bill, but NOT of the House bill.