The legislation, which was contained in the FY2001 state budget when it was sent to the Governor on July 18, was among 263 items vetoed when Cellucci signed the budget on July 28.

After the Legislature resolved the Red Sox issue on Saturday July 29, the House, amidst enacting several pieces of legislation on Monday July 31, the last day of the formal 1999-2000 session, was unable to take up a number of veto overrides by the time the clock struck midnight. The PERAC legislation was one of that number.

Currently there are seven commissioners who oversee the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission. Backers of the proposal, including our Association, which would have increased the number of commissioners to nine felt that the Treasurer, because of her position as chairman of the State Retirement Board and chairman of the Commonwealth's $31 billion pension fund (PRIM), should be a PERAC Commissioner. The President of MACRS which consists of all retirement systems was a logical choice for the ninth seat.

The following is Governor Cellucci's veto message:
"I am vetoing this section because it would appoint a member of an umbrella organization (MACRS) that represents a number of local and county retirement boards to the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission that come under the regulatory jurisdiction of the Commission, resulting in a possible conflict."

"I don't feel that there would have been any unmanageable conflict," said Association President Ralph White. "Some of the current commissioners feel they are in conflict when certain issues arise. They simply recuse themselves from a discussion or vote at that time. The expertise plus the grassroots input that the two new seats would have offered far outweighed the small percentage of time when recusation would have been necessary."