Treachery, contempt and the House Retirement Committee

Treacherous is just one of the words describing the actions of the House Retirement Committee on Wednesday. The committee’s utter contempt for the people of the state and the rule of law is surpassed only by its craven submission to the will of Governor Bobby Jindal.

Not that all members were compliant when a bill’s intent was completely transformed so the governor could get his way and merge the Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana and the Louisiana School Employees’ Retirement System.

Democrats on the committee, led by Rep. Sam Jones (D-Franklin) boycotted the vote, leaving only Republican members to do the governor’s bidding.

Here are the sordid details.

The committee was slated to hear SB 6 by Sen. Elbert Guillory (D-Opelousas), an innocuous bill calling for an annual report to the school employees’ retirement system on privatized jobs.

But as has happened too often this session, the bill was hijacked by a surprise, 47-page amendment crafted by the governor’s office. The new language resurrected the system merger, which was originally contained in HB 1198 by Rep. Kevin Pearson (R-Slidell).

HB 1198 was approved by the Retirement Committee, but has languished on the House calendar for lack of enough votes to guarantee its passage.

House rules say that substantive amendments must be submitted 48 hours in advance of the meeting. But Rep Pearson, who chairs the panel, ruled that the amendment was not new information to the committee, and allowed it to be considered.

Reaction to the maneuver was immediate and explosive. Calling the move a “farce,” Rep. Jones walked out of the meeting. Without a quorum present, Rep. Pearson recessed the meeting to round up enough allies to pass the bill. When the panel reconvened, Democratic members stayed away, leaving only Republican lawmakers present to approve the bill.

“Offensive” was one word LFT Legislative Director Mary-Patricia Wray used to describe the tactic. “I think that the good faith of this Legislature with the citizens of this state has been breached," she said.

The underhanded tactics endorsed by Rep. Pearson and Sen. Guillory meant that teachers and school employees whose retirement will be affected did not have a chance to comment before the committee voted. And because SB 6 had already been approved by the Senate in its original form, the amended version now faces scrutiny only on the House floor.

The merger would abolish LSERS and transfer all its property, rights, obligations and employees into the Teachers’ system. In the process, 30 employees would lose their jobs within a year. That greatly increases the work load on remaining staff, and could cause a reduction in services for the members of the merged systems.

Times-Picayune reporter Jeff Adelson covered the meeting for this story; Marsha Shuler of The Advocate filed this report.

Senator tells retirees: Go on welfare

State employees who can’t make it on the new, stripped-down retirement benefits under consideration in Baton Rouge will just have to apply for food stamps and go on welfare, according to State Senator Elbert Guillory (D-Opelousas).

“We cannot afford to protect people from making bad decisions in their lives,” said Sen. Guillory about a bill that eliminates state pensions in favor of a market-driven “cash balance” retirement plan for newly hired state employees.

The Senate voted 23-11 for HB 61 by Rep. Kevin Pearson (R-Slidell), which will affect employees hired on or after July 1, 2013. It will impact the retirement plans of rank-and-file members of the Louisiana State Employees Retirement System and higher education members of the Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana. Click here to see how Senators voted on the bill.

Both LASERS and TRSL opposed the bill, and have threatened lawsuits challenging its constitutionality.

Opponents say the bill will have a crushing effect on future retirees, giving them less retirement security than they would have under federal Social Security, which does not apply to public employees in Louisiana.

Under the plan, retirees would contribute eight percent of their salary to the plan, and the state would kick in at least four percent (private employers who pay Social Security must contribute 6.2 percent). Currently, the state’s retirement contribution is over 20 percent of the employee salary.

Money in the plan would be invested by the retirement systems. Employees would be credited with money earned when investments perform well. Unlike 401(k) investments, employees would be protected from actual losses if the market sinks.

When they retire, employees could either convert their balance to an annuity that pays regular amounts over time, or take it in a lump sum. Unlike the state’s current defined benefit retirement systems, which guarantee an income for life, retirees could spend all of the money saved under SB 61.

Because state employees do not have the safety net provided by Social Security, some senators questioned the morality of a plan that could leave retirees destitute if they outlive their savings.

“We cannot afford to protect people from making bad decisions in their lives,” Sen. Guillory said, echoing Ebenezer Scrooge’s famous response when asked for charity at Christmas: “Are there no prisons? And the Union workhouses. Are they still in operation…those who are badly off must go there.”

For more information, read Advocate reporter Marsha Shuler’s account here, and Times-Picayune reporter Jeff Adelson’s story here.

Committee defers sick leave and sabbatical bills

LFT President Steve Monaghan explains the Federation's opposition to HB 399 and HB 400, which threatened sick leave and sabbatical benefits.

Two pieces of legislation that educators feared would harm their sick leave and sabbatical leave benefits were deferred by the House Education Committee today.

Rep. Kevin Pearson (R-Slidell) voluntarily sidetracked his HB 399 and HB 400 when it became apparent that the committee would not approve the bills. In just the past week, nearly 1,500 people sent messages to the Education Committee urging them to vote against the bills. The messages were coordinated by the LFT Action Center.

HB 399 would have allowed school boards an exemption from granting sabbatical leave if the state fails to fund a 2.75% growth factor in public education’s Minimum Foundation Program.

HB 400 would have granted school boards the same exemption for teachers and school employees applying for extended sick leave.

LFT President Steve Monaghan said the bills would encourage school systems to take away hard-won rights from teachers and school employees. Monaghan told the committee that the bills amounted to "death by a thousand paper cuts" for teachers and school employees.