Pensions
My second pension post on the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity site points out that the anticipated per-employee cost of the hybrid system will actually be higher than the price that taxpayers are currently being given for pensions.
It seems that no plan for fiscal reform in Rhode Island is considered complete until it eviscerates democracy in some way. The pension reform plan submitted to the General Assembly yesterday by Governor Lincoln Chafee and General Treasurer Gina Raimondo is no exception. The offending section is 36-10.2-7 which creates procedures that both municipalities and…
So the pension reform proposal which General Treasurer Raimondo and Governor Chafee have been working on was leaked to the Providence Journal’s Kathy Gregg late Thursday. Congrats to Ms. Gregg for landing this scoop. Check out Andrew’s post for the projected legislative scheduling of the actual bill (still being finalized), a round-up of recent press…
Here is a compilation of various media reports on the flurry of activity related to the pension reform legislation which followed from the leak of the basic outline to Katherine Gregg of the Projo. ( Summaries from David Klepper and Scott MacKay). 0. Ted Nesi had this to say after his review of the leaked…
[With apologies for prematurely putting up the rough outline of a beta verison of a draft of this post earlier this morning.] Yesterday, in a briefing by Deputy Treasurer Mark Dingley to the State Retirement Board, we got more details as to the pension reform plan to be proposed by the Governor and General Treasurer…
I wanted to go to last night’s Publick Occurrences event, but after around 10 hours of motivational speeches and get-rich sales pitches, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Part of the problem is my suspicion that the game is already set, and like those sales pitches, everything being said right now is just…
(Following are the prepared remarks of Mr. Ward at the Publick Occurrences Forum, “Pension Puzzle: What Can We Afford?” of this evening.) My thanks to the Providence Journal, Leadership Rhode Island and Rhode Island College for allowing me the honor of participating in this forum. There was an advertisement in yesterday’s Providence Journal placed by…
At the John Loughlin fundraiser held in East Providence on Sunday evening, I was able to ask several of the sitting legislators in attendance about the highly anticipated special legislative session on pension reform. In particular, I asked House Minority Leader Brian Newberry and Senators Frank Maher and Nick Kettle about how much time they…
This morning, Superior Court Judge Sarah Taft-Carter ruled against a summary judgement for the state and said there is an implied contract between the state and the unions with regard to their pensions. It seems the state was seeking to get a Council 94 lawsuit thrown out, via summary judgement, saying that because the pensions…