General Assembly To Begin Pension Hearings Wednesday

Governor Lincoln Chafee and Treasurer Gina Raimondo's plan to salvage RI's pension system — including deadlines for fixes on local programs and penalties for missing them — will be the subject of three public hearings starting tomorrow.

Among the members of the public expected to speak are several union representatives, including George Nee, president of the AFLCIO of Rhode Island, said Larry Berman, Communications Director for the Office of Speaker Gordon D. Fox.

To add your own name to the list, you'll need to put ink to paper on the sign-in sheet at the State House, open for signatures from 9 a.m. - 11 a.m. for anyone who wants a chance to speak. Everyone who signs will get two minutes to have their say, starting at 11 a.m., in Room 35.

The plan, dubbed the Rhode Island Retirement Security Act of 2011 (RIRSA) is  before both the state's Senate and House finance committees. An executive summary of the document is posted on the Assembly's website. The Senate and House versions of the bill, attached to this story, are also posted on Raimondo's website.

Two more public hearings will be held on Thursday, Oct. 27, and Tuesday, Nov. 1. All of them will take place in Room 35. Tomorrow's hearing will focus on teachers, state employees and Municipal Employee Retirement Systems (MERS) general employees. The second hearing will focus on MERS public safety, correctional officers, State Police and judges. The third hearing will deal with independent (non-MERS) plans.

*RIRSA creates defined benefit and contribution plans, requiring state employees and teachers to contribute 8.75 percent of their paychecks to retirement, and 3.75 percent to their pensions, which would vest after 5 years. They'll also contribute 5 percent to a personal retirement account, with the state contributing 1 percent. Employees would be able to take the personal retirement accounts with them regardless of where they work.

*Those able to retire now may do so, but anyone else previously able to retire before age 52 would have to wait until reaching 62.

*Sets protections for pensions similar to the Federal Pension Protection Act.

*Increases ammortization to 25 years.

*Suspends the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) until the system reaches healthy funding levels.

*Sets a deadline of Dec. 1, 2012 (or within five months of being deemed critical) for municipality-run pension programs in critical status to submit funding improvement plans to a solvency review board.

Without such a plan in place, the law would allow the state to withold funds not related to education and deposit them with the municpality's pension plan trustee or custodian.