Chafee's YouTube Solution

Chafee's YouTube Solution

It’s been an odd week as the Legislature has been on spring break, the Governor has been on YouTube and the state’s budget and debt problems have stalled in neutral gear. But when the General Assembly ramps back up next week, it should note that RI is lagging behind other regional states in yet another prominent category. Structural changes and benefit reforms are being proposed for pension systems through the work of Governor’s offices and Legislatures throughout the northeast, yet in Rhode Island, home of the second worst unfunded liability in the country, where is pension reform?

We’re almost four months through a six-month legislative session, but have yet to see a comprehensive pension reform package emerge from either the Governor’s office or leadership of the General Assembly.
That doesn’t mean there have not been pension reform bills submitted by individual lawmakers, it’s just that a leadership-backed, or Governor-led package, as is being done in other states, is noticeably absent here.
The incredibly shrinking governorship of Lincoln Chafee took the YouTube video route this week to presumably sell what’s left of his budget blueprint. I’m not convinced that was achieved by his pleasant-toned but meandering presentation.

One thing is sure though. In between admiring glances at those gleaming marbled hallways, our Governor may want to place a couple of calls to the Governor’s offices in places like Boston and Trenton and maybe hear some of the constructive suggestions he claims to be seeking for resolving our state’s structural debt problems.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

Just up the road in Massachusetts, and down the highway a few states into New Jersey, pension reform is the central issue. Rather than YouTubing it, Deval Patrick and Chris Christy are toughing it out on the budget front. They are proposing real structural change to their states’ pension systems, taking on the expected union pushback and holding their ground.

Governor Patrick’s package, though aimed at non-vested, newer employees, is projected to save taxpayers $5 billion over 30 years and save cities and towns $2 billion in the health benefit tab, by taking aim at years of service and age standards, including for public safety employees.

Patrick proposes to raise the age range a state worker or teacher could begin collecting a pension to 60-67, though similar to recent age changes in RI, it’s strengthened by a reduced overall benefit. He proposes to hike the minimum age to 50 for police and firefighters and would increase their retirement threshold to 30 years of service, state troopers included. That’s hardly unreasonable nor a threat to their own health or the public’s safety. (Contrast that with 20-plus years of service allowed for retirement in many RI local police and fire departments.)

He’s also taking on the holy grail of pension abuses, the double dip, forbidding anyone collecting a public pension, whether from state or local employment, to then be able to draw a paycheck from public sector work. Unlike RI’s hodgepodge of plans, the Bay state operates just two major plans covering all public employees and teachers, which aids in blocking double-dipping. Lastly, Patrick proposes to standardize the size of the benefit at 50% of pay. Contrast that with Rhode Island where benefits are reflecting 70%, 80% (which was also allowed in Mass) and in the cases of the top pension recipients—many from the ranks of judges—even 100% of pay.

Down in Trenton, the take-no-prisoners Christy is being heralded by taxpayers once again as he announced this week he is proposing public employees’ health benefits get an overhaul. Christy proposes to phase in over a three-year period a yearly hike in the employee contribution to their own health plan, so that by 2014, workers will be paying a 30% health insurance co-pay. If enacted, its projected the health benefit change could save New Jersey taxpayers an estimated $323 million next year. Someone please remind the Chafee administration that savings of that size could clearly help plug deficit holes here.

The larger point is that in other northeast states, the Governors themselves are taking on the soaring pension tabs and proposing packages for reform. They are doing so with the long term goal of returning fiscal health to their states—not leaving taxpayers on the hook—and ensuring that workers will actually have a pension to draw on, however scaled back that may be.

It is not solutions which are in short supply.

It’s willpower, to embrace the solutions, which in RI is very hard to come by.

If you valued this article, please LIKE GoLocalProv.com on Facebook by clicking HERE.

Donna Perry is a Communications Consultant to RISC, the RI Statewide Coalition (www.statewidecoalition.com)