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Retire-rehire bill dies in
Senate, Bailey works for revival in budget
A measure prime-sponsored
by
Rep. Barbara Bailey
that would have closed an unintended loophole in
the state’s 2001 retire-rehire law failed to move forward in the Senate
before a critical deadline Friday, March 3. That was last day to
consider opposite house bills.
Although House Bill 2689 may be considered dead, Bailey has not given up
hope for the measure, which could still be considered within the state’s
operating budget bill.
"I’ve been working with the majority party in both the House and Senate
to either get this measure exempted from the deadline and/or include it
as a provision of the operating budget negotiations," said Bailey. "I’m
very hopeful that it could be included as part of the budget since it is
estimated to save more than $7.6 million in the next biennium."
The original loophole allowed state employees in Plan 1 of both the
Public Employees Retirement System (PERS-1) and the Teachers Retirement
System (TRS-1) pension plans to retire in name only and immediately
return to their old jobs while collecting retirement checks. In 2003,
Bailey introduced legislation to close the loophole for teachers and
state employees. The Legislature approved her measure. However, Gov.
Gary Locke vetoed half of the bill, allowing the loophole to remain for
TRS-1 employees. House Bill 2689 would close that remaining loophole.
The bill passed the House unanimously Feb. 11. It was approved Feb. 23
by the Senate Ways and Means Committee and by the Senate Rules Committee
on March 3. However, the Senate failed to take up the measure before the
deadline.
"I had worked the bill very hard. There was no controversy. It had the
recommendation of the Joint Select Committee on Pension Policy. There
was no reason why it shouldn’t have come to a vote on the floor of the
Senate. It just didn’t reach a priority level with some people," said
Bailey. "Sometimes, because of political maneuvering, good policy is
left behind which has nothing to do with the bill itself. That can be
very disappointing."
Although time is rapidly disappearing before the Legislature’s scheduled
adjournment March 9, Bailey said she is "cautiously optimistic" that the
measure could still be revived.
"I was promised that this bill would get through the system.
Unfortunately, that promise did not materialize so far. Now I’m being
told again that there is a strong possibility that we could move this
bill because it will affect the operating budget," noted Bailey. "I’m
hopeful that will happen."
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For more information, contact:
John
Handy, Assistant Director: (360) 786-5758
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