Retirement bills snagged
By SHERRY HALBROOK
Gov. David Paterson vetoed the retiree health bill in September, but said he
intends to create a task force to study the issue of how to continue “to provide
(the state’s) public retirees with affordable and quality health care, even in
this time of tight budgets.”
That task force, he said, will include representatives of retired public
employees, labor unions, local governments, the Legislature and other interested
parties. The task force must report its findings and recommendations before the
2009 legislative session ends, presumably in June.
The vetoed bill would have blocked state and local governments from cutting
health care benefits for their retired employees until such a report is made.
PEF members and retirees fought hard and successfully to get the bill through
the Legislature, in the face of strong opposition from local government leaders
and the state Business Council.
“We are disappointed by the veto, but more determined than ever to use the
opportunity offered by the task force and the hearings it will hold to make the
case for protecting our retirees’ health benefits,” said PEF President Ken
Brynien. “We work hard for these benefits. We earn them, and we must preserve
them. (See related Retirees article.)
The governor also vetoed a second bill in September that would have benefitted
some PEF members when they retire.
Members at the state Education Department and other agencies who are in the NYS
Teachers’ Retirement System would have received service credit toward their
retirements for up to 200 days of unused accumulated sick leave under bill
S.8142/A.10644.
“We have faced obstacles like these vetoes on nearly every important bill we
have ever supported,” Brynien said. “We don’t let them stop us. We just keep
working and often we prevail.
