State House News
Rally Pix From May 2
Rally Pix From June 3
June 19, 2008
The House of Representatives passed the budget last night and now it quickly moves to the Senate and adjournment as early as tomorrow. It was the same budget passed by the Finance Committee a week ago. We lost a very close amendment on not being able to stipulate the health care carrier in contracts and after a lengthy debate, the mayoral academies passed. That said, there were no pension changes in the budget, and an additional $13 million added to state aid to education. We still face the challenge of negotiations and sometime this summer, the report from the Pension Review Study Committee. President Purtill wants to thank all of you who attended the rallies and contacted your legislators. In what was a very difficult budget year, we held our ground and your efforts were critical to that. Once the dust settles, we will send a detailed all member e-mail. June 16, 2008
The Rhode Island House of Representatives will be voting this Wednesday on the 2009 State Budget. The creation of "mayoral academies" in Article 38 is very troubling. It would basically set up private academies with little oversight and drain much needed money from the public schools. Call your representative today and tell him or her that you oppose the creation of these schools in Article 38. (See the ad we are running in the Journal tomorrow for more information and talking points.)
June 12, 2008
The budget passed the House Finance Committee last night with plenty of shared pain, but there were some modest gains. There should be an additional $13 plus million in state aid to education. It is based on a projected revenue increase from Twin River. There were, as expected, no changes to the pension system.
However, there are two major areas of concern. The restriction on naming a specific health care carrier in teacher and municipal contracts, and the creation of mayoral schools, similar to charter schools, whose impact on funding for regular public schools is worrisome. There is also the outstanding issue of state employee negotiations and, later this summer, the report of the Pension Review Study Committee.
Please check back for updates and more information on the budget, and any action we might need to take around areas of concern. The House will vote on the budget next Wednesday at 2:00 p.m., and the Senate a few days later. They could be adjourned shortly thereafter. President Larry Purtill wants to thank everyone who took the time to contact their legislators and attend the rally last week. Being active and involved does make a difference. June 11, 2008
The House Finance Committee will release and vote on the 2009 budget today. The House will then consider it next week and the Senate shortly after that. This could all be decided in the next 10 days to two weeks. Please return often as we may be asking you to once again contact your reps and senators prior to the final House and Senate vote. Collective bargaining rights, health care, aid to education, and pensions will all be items we will be watching today as the budget is released. Stay tuned..... June 9, 2008
The House Finance Committee will be presenting the 2009 state budget Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. No further testimony can be offered - the budget is now subject to debate and vote in the House.
The best way to have an impact on the outcome is a grassroots lobbying effort. President Larry Purtill is asking you to contact your representatives, especially if they are on the committee. The message is simple: we as teachers and state employees have done our part over and over, including the hit on retiree health care this year, and the budget cannot continually be balanced on our backs.
Remind committee members that we are taxpayers as well. Tell your rep that health care should remain part of collective bargaining. The testimony was overwhelming last week that the key to controlling costs is through the regional collaboratives, and through collective bargaining (according to testimony by school committee representatives). Moving all teachers and municipal employees to the state plan is not the issue.
Higher education members need to remind the committee how critical tuition waivers are to providing an opportunity for a higher education that many students might not have without them. Economic development and growth benefit from a highly educated workforce.
June 4, 2008
More than 2,000 public employee union members joined together in the State House rally yesterday afternoon. NEARI President Larry Purtill told the crowd, “We don’t grow the economy and prosper as a state by cutting health care to children, and by trying to furlough and privatize state workers who take care of our most fragile. And we don’t grow the economy by taking money away from the middle class and giving it to the wealthy. And you certainly don’t cut benefits and retiree health care.”
He asked everyone present to join the fight for all Rhode Islanders by promoting good paying green jobs; supporting local small businesses; making sure everyone has quality, affordable health care and every child comes to school ready to learn; and working for a 2009 budget that reflects these priorities.
May 27, 2008
RALLY! Union members of all kinds from across the state will gather at the Working Rhode Island rally next Tuesday, June 3, 4 pm, at the State House. This is it – over the next three weeks, we need to show the legislature that we are ready to fight to protect pensions, health care, collective bargaining and educational aid. Just check out what is on tap for hearings tomorrow as if you need any more motivation.
Talk with your local president about possible bus transportation, or hop on the buses leaving from NEARI, at 3:15 p.m. (We also have had 500 cool t-shirts printed, just for NEARI members. Wear one, and you just might make the evening news.) Hearings tomorrow (May 28) before the House Finance Committee:
H7158, scheduled for 1 p.m. This legislation would place all municipal employees and teachers in the state health care plan. Despite the fact that it will cost most communities more, this would eliminate health care from collective bargaining. NEARI Executive Director Bob Walsh will be testifying. H8209, scheduled at the rise of the House, approximately 5 p.m. This would eliminate tuition waivers for higher education employees. NEARI President Larry Purtill will testify, along with our higher education local presidents and several members. H7271, also scheduled at the rise. This would undo much of the anti-privatization law that was passed last year. We will be joining with other unions in opposition. Please be ready to call and write your legislators, especially if any of these bills seem likely to pass out of committee, and as the Finance Committee starts debating the 2009 budget, probably next week. Check here daily for updates.
May 13, 2008
The Pension Review Study Committee will meet tomorrow evening (Wednesday, May 14), at approximately 5:00 p.m., to hear testimony from retirement system members impacted by the creation of “Plan B” changes passed into law three years ago. Linda LaClair, president of Bristol-Warren Teachers, and NEARI President Larry Purtill are scheduled to testify.
Representative Eileen Naughton has introduced bill H7989 to address special education regulations. The legislation would undo some of the damaging changes passed recently by the Rhode Island Board of Regents. For the complete wording, go to www.rilin.state.ri.us and follow the links to bill text. A hearing for this bill before the House Finance Committee has been tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, May 21.
Plan to rally at the State House with your colleagues, Tuesday, June 3, at 4:00 p.m. More information will follow.
May 5, 2008
The vote last Wednesday (April 30) was 7-6 in favor of the Supplemental Budget, including Article 4. In fact, we had a 6-4 vote against it in the committee, but it was overturned by the Senate president, majority leader, and minority leader, who are allowed to participate under the rules. We were unsuccessful at defeating the measure, but certainly sent a message in the much bigger fight ahead over the ’09 budget – that we have friends in the legislature who will not back down. In turn, they certainly know how hard we will fight for our members, working people and children. On May 1, the full Senate voted in favor of the budget, and we are now facing a revised health care premium structure for retirees. Thanks to the other unions and groups who stood with us, especially Council 94, the AFT, AFL-CIO and Ocean State Action.
Friday’s rally succeeded in showing organized labor and other workers in a solid front. More than 1,000 people from Council 94, AFL, SEIU, Ocean State Action and Jobs With Justice gathered at the State House. Our united message was “Keep the Promise.”
This week, the Pension Review Study Committee will meet to hear testimony from a panel that was impacted by the changes three years ago. Representing NEARI will be Linda LaClair, NEA Director and Bristol-Warren local president, who became a teacher later in life, is in retirement Plan B and does not pay Social Security. She will be a great witness to the injustice of changing the system.
Just about every expert that appears before the committee testifies that it does not make sense to move people from a defined benefit to 401k type program. Unfortunately, the discussion is less about fairness, logic, or common sense than it is about politics. April 29, 2008
The full Senate could vote on the Supplemental Budget as early as Thursday, May 1, although the Senate hearing has been postponed until Wednesday (April 30). Use the information below to contact your senators one more time and urge them to oppose Article 4.
Rally plans are moving forward. Contact your local president to see if there will be busing from your local. Bus transportation from the NEARI office will be decided tomorrow. April 24, 2008
On Tuesday, April 22, the Rhode Island House of Representatives Finance Committee passed a supplemental budget that the full House will vote on tomorrow (April 25) at 2 p.m. Article 4 of the budget will have a very detrimental impact on state employees and some teachers.
For state employees in the state pension system, those who do not retire by September 30, 2008 will have to work a minimum of 20 years and be at least age 59 to be eligible for retiree health care coverage. Additionally, those employees retiring after September 30 will not only have to contribute 20% toward the cost of their coverage, the cost of this health care coverage will be based on full actuarial cost, which will significantly raise the premium that members have to pay.
Teachers who plan to purchase coverage through the state will also be impacted by this change, especially those teachers without Medicare coverage who intend to purchase state coverage for the rest of their lives. Basing the plan cost on the retiree rate versus the active rate may increase the cost of coverage by as much as 50%.
Unfortunately, Article 4 of the supplemental budget is likely to pass. While NEARI, along with other state employee unions, has been lobbying to defeat Article 4, we will also push for amendments to mitigate at least some of the impact. The original date for implementation has already been moved from June 30 of this year to September 30, but it should be even later. We also believe that the minimum age to receive benefits should be lower than age 59, that more credit should be given for more years of service, that some credit be given for less than 20 years of service, and that there should be a cap on the difference in cost between the active plan and the retiree plan.
The bottom line is that Article 4 will drastically impact retiree health care for state employees and teachers. Now is the time to call your representative and tell him/her that this change is unfair. The Governor’s desire to force many employees to retire will impact the quality of service that state workers provide to the people of Rhode Island. Please tell your representative that to make such a devastating change with virtually no notice to a system that has been in place for decades is unfair. Ask him/her to oppose Article 4 of the supplemental budget, and to support any amendments that will lessen its impact. April 23, 2008
The supplemental budget was passed by the House Finance Committee last night and the full House is scheduled to vote on it this Friday at 2 p.m. The good news: the article that would have forced municipal employees into the state health care plan was removed. This was an attempt to start the erosion of public employee collective bargaining rights.
The bad news: the $10 million cut to municipalities remained in the budget and Article 4 was passed. This would require a state employee to have at least 20 years of service and be 59 years of age before retiree health care would kick in. The state’s contribution would be 80% and the employee’s, 20%.
Under the new language, retirees would pay an increased amount for the insurance based on the full actuarial cost. Teachers who buy their health care from the state after retirement will also be impacted by this cost change. We were able to move the implementation date from June 30 to September 30, in order to give people more time to make what may be a difficult decision. We will be lobbying diligently over the next two days to make additional changes, although we continue to oppose the article altogether.
A large turnout is at the May 2 rally is essential as we move into the last two months of the legislative session. The Pension Reform Study Committee will be considering their recommendations in a few weeks and we need to send a strong message about our position. Members planning on coming should contact their local presidents. Next week – leading up to the rally – will also be a great time to contact your rep and senator. April 14-18, 2008
General Assembly spring break. April 9, 2008
The Pension Reform Study Committee hearing for today is cancelled (see below). The next scheduled hearing is April 30. Look for more details as they become available. April 9, 2008
The Pension Reform Study Committee will be meeting this afternoon and several people are scheduled to testify. Members from the business community and members of the Employees’ Pension System of Rhode Island impacted by the changes three years ago are on today’s agenda.
Bristol-Warren teacher Linda LaClair, president of her local and Plan B member, will be NEARI’s representative before the committee. She will be testifying about the Social Security offsets (Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision), and how the pension changes of three years ago impacted her and her colleagues who were not vested.
These hearings are sometimes covered live on public access television (Cox 15). It will start at the Rise of the House, about 5-5:30 p.m.
The committee was established by Speaker of the House Murphy. Only three union representatives are included among the 19 members, one of which is NEARI Executive Director Bob Walsh. The committee has heard a variety of testimony, including Bob’s statement on behalf of Rhode Island teachers, and state and municipal employees.
The committee is scheduled to report its findings and any recommendations this spring. Now is a great time to call your legislators and let them know that they need to “Keep the Promise” – make no changes to the pension system that would have a negative impact on Rhode Island’s public employees. These talking points will help you develop your message.
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