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Cola Victory Complete

Legislature Scuttles Cellucci's Veto

JANUARY 2000 - Passage of the FY2000 state budget on November 16th has opened the door for all eligible retirees and survivors of our 106 retirement systems to receive a 3% COLA this year - no thanks to Governor A. Paul Cellucci.

Although Cellucci's signing of the budget enabled state and teacher retirees to receive a 3%COLA in their November pension checks, retroactive to July 1999, the governor dropped a bombshell on our Association and thousands of our members when he vetoed budget language that would allow 3% COLAs for retirees of our 104 local retirement systems.

Originally scheduled to be a 1.3% consumer price index (CPI) COLA, the House and Senate upped that figure to 3% after a strong lobby campaign by our Association. The state and teachers COLA was included in a pension line item, while the language for local government COLAs was added to the outside section of the budget.

By signing the budget and announcing over 300 vetoes on the evening of November 16, the governor left only one day for overrides. Under joint rules, the House and Senate were scheduled to end their 1999 session on midnight of November 17.

After late-night preparations, our Association's legislative team moved into overdrive on the morning of the 17th. After meeting with House Speaker Tom Finneran and Senate President Tom Birmingham and their leadership teams, all 200 members of the Legislature were either personally lobbied or received messages from our Association. And the message was clear: Override Governor Cellucci's COLA veto.

When the override motion was presented to the House in mid-afternoon, the message from the House to the governor was also clear: A 146 to 7 vote in favor of the override. Less than 30 minutes later, a unanimous override vote in the Senate completed the process of scuttling the governor's COLA veto - a huge victory for public retirees.

Accolades Aplenty

"Under the Golden Dome there are so many deserving accolades that we could hand out we should probably just express our most sincere thanks to the entire Legislature," said Association President Ralph White.

"However, we must recognize Speaker Finneran for making the COLA veto override vote a priority on a day when it was impossible to bring every override to the floor. Also his counterpart in the Senate, President Birmingham, who said he wanted to present the override to his members as soon as possible."

White noted that the Speaker and President selected their respective chairmen of the key Joint Public Service Committee and powerful Ways and Means Committees to carry the override debate on the House and Senate floor.

Both Representative Paul Casey and Senator Brian Joyce (Public Service) were well-prepared and eager to accept the override challenge. "Paul and Brian were like two fighters waiting to come into the ring for the main event, and from our viewpoint the COLA was the main event. They didn't let us down," said White.

House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Haley and Senate Ways and Means Chairman Mark Montigny had earlier sponsored the COLAs within their respective budgets. Both refuted the governor's claim that the local COLAs were an "additional, unwarranted burden" on towns belonging to county retirement systems. "Paul Haley and Mark Montigny know that the local COLA acceptance process is fair and the House and Senate members trust their judgement," said White.

"The governor simply used poor judgement in vetoing the COLA. He suffered a slew of devastating veto overrides and didn't need to add the retirees to his override record," White pointed out. "It also shows a lack of respect for what our Association represents. I think that angers me as much as the veto."

Attention Turns To Locals

With the state and teacher 3% COLA in the bank, our attention now turns to the 104 city, town, county, district and authority retirement systems.

Most of these local systems had paid a 1.3% COLA in July under the CPI law which was in effect at that time. The retirement boards which oversee these systems have been waiting for the new law which is contained with the FY2000 state budget, officially Chapter 127 of the Acts of 1999.

Prior to voting to pay a retroactive 3% COLA, actually a 1.7% increase over the July COLA, the boards will have to obtain acceptance of the new law from their governing bodies. That would be a city council in a city, the town meeting in a town, and county retirement board advisory council in a county.

"The cities and counties can move relatively quickly," said Association Legislative Liaison Shawn Duhamel. "City councils and county advisory councils meet on a regular basis. Town retirement boards will have to wait until spring town meetings in most cases. But again, we anticipate most retirement boards voting for a COLA retroactive to July '99. This would be a great millennium present for boards to give their retirees, even if delayed until after January 1.

"Retirement boards will not be seeking an additional appropriation from what they are now receiving. They will not have to go before their governing bodies asking for money. The three percent, although previously unpaid, was built into the funding schedules that were adopted two years ago. There may be pockets of opposition, but it should be minimal. We expect positive results as the boards go forward with this new law."

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