ML070320537

E-mail from Epstein Regarding Senate Pension Hb 26, Act 9 of 2001

ML070320537
Person / Time
Site:	Susquehanna
Issue date:	01/10/2007
From:	Epstein E - No Known Affiliation
To:	Alicia Mullins NRC/NRR/ADRO/DLR/REBA
References
TAC MD3021, TAC MD3022
Download: ML070320537 (7)

Text

uAii Mfriis-FW: Senate Derision vote HB 26, Act

__E 20Pej)

From:

Eric Epstein <ericepstein@comcast.net>

To:

Alicia Mullins <AXM7@nrc.gov>

Date:

01/10/2007 7:25:12 AM

Subject:

FW: Senate pension vote HB 26, Act 9 of 2001.

Subject:

Senate pension vote HB 26, Act 9 of 2001.

Folks:

As a public service, RocktheCapital.org has prepared a PDF on the Senate pension vote. Enclosed please find out how each senator voted on HB 26, Act 9 of 2001.

Final passage was on May 8, 2001 in both houses. The vote can also be found in the Senate Journal of May 8, 2001.

The eight 3No2 votes in the Senate are listed below:

E Boscola, Lisa (D-Northampton)

E Dent, Charles (R-Lehigh)

E Earll, Jane (R-Erie)

E Orie, Jane (R-Allegheny)

E Schwartz, Allyson (D-Philadelphia)

E Stack, Michael (D-Philadelphia)

E Waugh, Michael (R-York)

E White, Donald (R-Indiana)

Shalom, Eric Epstein, Coordinator RockTheCapital.org 4100 Hillsdale Road Harrisburg, PA 17112 (717)-541-1101 Phone (717)-541-5487 Fax ericepstein@comcast.net Beaver County Times 11/17/2006 Pension and retirement benefits for lawmakers By: Alison Hawkes, Times Capital Bureau HARRISBURG - The more than 50 retiring and defeated state lawmakers will be eligible for a pension and retirement benefits package that far exceeds the norm in private industry.

As nearly one-quarter of the Legislature makes its

[licia Mullins - FW:_Senate ension vote B 26, Act 9 of 2001.

Page2 final adieu next week, they face a kind of financial and medical insurance security that most Pennsylvania workers could only dream of.

"This is a whole different world that they're operating in," said Richard Dreyfuss, a business consultant and analyst for the Commonwealth Foundation, who has studied lawmakers' benefits.

Starting at age 50 -which is far below the normal retirement age of 65 - state lawmakers with 10 years of credited service are eligible for a full retirement package that includes: a pension; full medical, dental and vision plans for themselves and their families; and long-term-care insurance.

The medical and long-term-care benefits alone will cost taxpayers an estimated $13,000 a year per retiree, according to figures provided by the House Bipartisan Management Committee and backed up by Dreyfuss.

Senators will have to contribute 1 percent of their final year's pay toward their medical plans because of a decision the chamber made earlier in the year under public pressure to start pitching in. The House, which has the largest number of retirees at 27, has made no such move.

A retirement package of this sort would be "extremely generous" in the private sector and more on par with executive-level benefits, according to Edwin Koc, director of research for MidAtlantic Employers' Association, a business consulting firm in Valley Forge.

In a survey of its 724 members in Mid-Atlantic states, primarily small to midsize private-sector employers, only 10 percent offered pension plans, while most had moved into defined-contribution plans, such as 401(k)s.

On the health-care side, 11 percent had retiree medical benefits, and of those, most required retirees to contribute some amount toward premiums, the survey found.

lins - FW: Senate p*_ension vote HB 26, Act 9 of 2001.

Pad-e Alicia Mu4ilWs-FW: Senate pension vote HB 26, Act 9~6V2~0Oi7 Page3~

"I don't know of anybody here who contributes 100 percent," Koc said.

About 17 percent offered long-term-care insurance.

Koc said pensions and retirement health-care benefits are "a thing of the past" in the private sector.

"Companies have largely had to shy away from that because of the long-term financials," he said. "You can still find them. They're in the auto industry, and they're going under."

Pennsylvania, too, faces a fiscal crisis from its pension obligations. Liabilities are expected to increase from $584 million in 2005 to $4.2 billion in 2012, according to a study by the Commonwealth Foundation.

The Legislature has not yet tackled the problem, although beginning in 2007, it will have to start accounting for the liabilities in the state budget.

under federal law.

This year's cadre of outgoing lawmakers will benefit from a change they made in 2001 under then-Gov. Tom Ridge to double legislative pension payouts and increase those for state workers and teachers by 25 percent. The discussions were held in closed-door negotiations without floor debate.

Tim Potts, coordinator for Democracy Rising PA, said with such generous benefits, lawmakers have insulated themselves from everyday Pennsylvanians.

"They have created a system for themselves that holds them apart from the people they're supposed to represent," he said. "And that makes it very difficult for them to truly represent them."

Pension payments are calculated by multiplying years in office by the average salary of the three highest years of income (usually the last three years in office) by a so-called "class of service multiplier."

It was the multiplier that lawmakers voted to increase.

T-Alicia Mullins - FW: Senate pension vote HB 26, Act 9of 2001.

____Page4, The calculation results in a maximum annual payment per year until death. But lawmakers may choose different payment plans that pay less each year in exchange for leaving guaranteed payments to surviving spouses.

According to the chief clerk's offices for the House and Senate, all retirees and outgoing lawmakers on a payment plan to return their unvouchered expenses will have done so by the end of this month, with the exception of one House member.

House Chief Clerk Roger Nick declined to name that lawmaker, but said the situation would be straightened out before leaving office.

Those lawmakers who kept the unvouchered expenses will see a bounce in their pensions, some by thousands of dollars a year.

Local lawmakers will be receiving additional pension money as a result of having taken unvouchered expense payments.

- State Rep. Mike Veon, D-14, West Mayfield:

Annual pension, $63,655; unvouchered expense payments,

$10,471; additional annual pension payments as a result, $2,304.

- State Rep. Victor Lescovitz, D-46, Midway:

Annual pension, $55,421; unvouchered expense payments,

$5,152; additional annual pension payments as a result, $1,339.

- State Rep. Frank LaGrotta, D-10, Ellwood City:

Annual pension, $41,607; unvouchered expense repaid.

COLA raises State lawmakers are scheduled to receive an almost 2 percent pay raise beginning next month, bringing their annual base salary to $73,613.

The pay raise, equal to $1,425, comes in the form of

"A'

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-cýýi Mullins - FW: Sen n vote HB 2"f

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~AIicia Mullins - FW~Senai6 pension vote HB~26, Act 9 of 200Y Paae~1I an automatic yearly cost-of-living adjustment based on an inflation index for the Philadelphia area. The U.S.

Bureau of Labor Statistics released its October index Thursday.

At a 1.975 percent increase, lawmakers will receive the lowest automatic pay hike in three years.

Those in leadership positions stand to gain more in absolute dollars from the COLA than lower-ranking members. Party caucus leaders, including House Democratic Leader Bill DeWeese, will receive an extra

$2,065 per year, for an annual salary of $106,648.

At the top of the salary scale are the House speaker and Senate president pro tempore, who will gain an extra $2,225 for a salary of $114,906.

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ILAl i Iuý ins -11 Senate pension vote Senate of Pennsylvania 2001-2002 Regular Session 118 HB 26 5/08/01 PN 1905 Concur in House Amendments to Senate Amendments Yea: 41 Nay: 8 PASSED Yea: 41 Bell Bodack Brightbill Conti Corman Costa Erickson Fumo Gerlach Greenleaf Helfrick Holl Hughes Jubelirer Kasunic Kitchen Kukovich LaValle Lemmond Logan Madigan Mellow Mowery.

Murphy Musto 0 'Pake Piccola Punt Rhoades Robbins Scarnati Stout Tartaglione 2hompson Tilghman Tomlinson Wagner Wenger White, Mary Jo Williams Wozniak Nay: 8 Boscola Dent Earll Orie Schwartz Stack Waugh White, Donald A constitutional majority of all the Senators having voted "aye,"

the question was determined in the affirmative.

c:\\ternp\\GW}OQOO1.TMP Page I, Mail Envelope Properties (45A4DB13.CA9: 1: 48297)

Subject:

FW: Senate pension vote HB 26, Act 9 of 2001.

Creation Date 01/10/2007 7:40:52 AM From:

Eric Epstein <ericepstein@comcast.net>

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ericepstein@comcast.net Recipients nrc.gov TWGWPOO1.HQGWDOO1 AXM7 (Alicia Mullins)

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