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House votes $99 million
reduction in public
employee pension benefits
McCune says, ‘it’s the wrong way to go’
The House of
Representatives voted tonight to eliminate “gain-sharing” from public
employee pension plans and use the money saved in other parts of the
state’s operating budget. Gain-sharing was created in 1998, providing
increased pension benefits for some public employee plans in years when
“extraordinary investment gains” are experienced by the plans.
Rep. Jim McCune, R-Graham, voted against
HB 2391 saying, “it is the wrong way to go.
“The state promised these benefits to public employees and, if we are
going to change things now, we should replace them with a benefit
package that is equal to or better than the existing plan,” he said.
The bill passed the House 52-45 and heads to the Senate.
All three operating budgets proposed this year – the governor’s, the
House proposal and the Senate budget – assumed gain-sharing would be
eliminated. The cut amounts to about $99 million over the next biennium.
But McCune said the state is changing the rules in the middle of the
game and breaking promises made to public employees.
“Some of them will gain and some of them will lose. That’s not fair,”
McCune said. “I made a promise to public employees living in my District
and this bill doesn’t meet that promise. Repealing gain-sharing is the
wrong thing to do.”
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