COMPILATION OF CURRENT NH RETIREMENT LEGISLATION
HB223 -FN-L Title: establishing a moratorium on the implementation of the retirement system employer assessments for excess benefits.
This places a one-year moratorium on bills that would be sent to cities and towns if an employee’s pension exceeds 125 percent of his/her normal base pay. This bill is intended to correct one of the unintended consequences of HB1645 passed last year. THE NEPBA believes this unintended consequence in Section 33 of HB1654 should be repealed.
The Senate ED and A committee recommendation is to pass this bill, it will now go to the full Senate for a floor vote next week.
HB289
Title: relative to requiring financial and business management experience for membership on the board of trustees of the New Hampshire retirement system.
Reorganizing the board of trustees is another worn-out tactic used by those who have consistently sought to reduce retiree benefits. The board, without prior authorizing legislation, grants no benefit of any nature that a retiree receives. This bill will lower the number of employees by half who currently sit on this board. THE NEPBA does not support this bill in any form that would change the current makeup of this board.
The ED and A subcommittee recommendation is to kill this bill. It now goes to the full ED and A committee for a vote this Thursday.
HB401 –FN
Title: relative to the membership of the retirement system board of trustees.
This is the same type of bill as above –they want to cut, by half, the number of employees who are appointed to this board by the Governor. THE NEPBA does not support this bill in any form that would change the current makeup of this board.
The ED and A subcommittee recommendation is to retain this bill. It now goes to the full ED and A committee for a vote this Thursday.
HB411
Title: relative to the safety of retirement accounts.
This bill declares that employers offering certain retirement programs shall offer at least one cash or money market option. THE NEPBA supports this bill as long as cities and towns continue to comply with the current law regarding our pensions and keeps it a defined benefit.
The House has passed this bill. The bill is not yet scheduled for a hearing in the Senate.
HB420 –FN
Title: relative to the determination of gainful occupation for a group II member receiving an accidental disability retirement allowance from the retirement system.
This bill allows members who have retired on accidental disability to get another job without loss of their disability retirement allowance. THE NEPBA supports this bill. It is not fair that any individual should loss an earned benefit.
VOTED 2-0 Ought To Pass
HB514
Title: establishing a New Hampshire other post-employment benefits (OPEB) trust and enabling political subdivisions to create or participate in OPEB trusts.
This bill establishes the New Hampshire other post-employment benefits (OPEB) trust, an irrevocable trust to fund post-employment benefits other than pensions. The bill enables political subdivisions to create or participate in similar OPEB trusts.
Purpose of this bill is to help with the new Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) which has issued Statements 43 and 45, which set forth standards on accounting and reporting for post-employment benefits other than pensions by governments;
The new standards will require the state and other political subdivisions to account for such post-employment benefits on an accrual basis during an employee’s career rather than on a pay-as-you-go basis during an employee’s retirement; and
The general court has determined that it would be advisable to clearly authorize the state and political subdivisions of the state to create one or more irrevocable trusts to facilitate funding those benefits in advance to address and ultimately offset the accrued liabilities for such benefits.
Full House voted and passed this bill, it will now move to the Senate for a committee hearing.
This bill establishes the New Hampshire other post-employment benefits (OPEB) trust, an irrevocable trust to fund post-employment benefits other than pensions. The bill enables political subdivisions to create or participate in similar OPEB trusts.
Title: excluding extra or special duty pay from earnable compensation in the retirement system.
This bill strikes out the language of “or for other extra or special duty” in the current section under earnable compensation. At the many subcommittee hearings on this bill, supporters claimed that it is intended to target that “extra or special duty” of Group 2 members who work special duties for private companies, and then the city or town later bills the companies for that work. THE NEPBA does not support this bill especially when there is nothing defining what “extra and special duty” actually encompasses. This is just the first step in eroding our pensions.
VOTED 4-0 Inexpedient To Legislate
HB590 –FN
Title: relative to the retirement age for Group 2 members.
This bill would require Group 2 member (police and firefighters) new hires to work longer before being eligible to retire. It would also create an unfair two-tiered system where future hires are earning lower benefits than their colleagues and requiring them to pay the same or more in employee contributions. The attempt to create a two-tiered system is not new, and, in fact, it has been repeatedly defeated in the legislature. There are few, if any, cost savings in this change. It treats a new employee differently from a co-worker even though they are both expected to perform the same job with the same level of competence and professionalism. It requires them to work longer and receive less compensation. THE NEPBA does not support this.
VOTED 4-0 Ought To Pass as Amended.
HB591 –FN
Title: relative to the maximum initial retirement benefit for retirees in the New Hampshire retirement system.
This bill changes the language from earnable compensation to 100% base rate of compensation. Right now, as written, this bill would only affect new hires and, perhaps, employees who are not vested in the New Hampshire retirement system (worked less than 10 years). The New Hampshire Retirement system has stated that this bill should not be passed because of the administrative burden it will place on the system. This bill will have a greater impact on Group 2 members than Group 1 members. The intent is to ensure that no employee earns a pension greater than the salary they earned when working. THE NEPBA is concerned about the proposed “base rate” wording. This needs to be defined and studied before making changes. THE NEPBA opposes the bill for this reason. This seems to be the first step in dramatically changing pension amounts for all public employees.
The ED and A subcommittee recommendation is to kill this bill. It will now move to the full ED and A committee for a full vote this Thursday.
HB633 –FN
Title: relative to eligibility for medical benefits payments by the retirement system for certain group I teacher and political subdivision employee members.
This bill fixes an unintended consequence from last session. This bill will make sure that you will receive the medical subsidy if you were eligible to retiree on July 1, 2008. THE NEPBA supports this bill.
The House has passed this bill last week. The bill is not yet scheduled for a hearing in the Senate.
HB641 -FN-L
Title: relative to the determination of employer assessments for excess benefits paid by employers in the retirement system.
This bill changes how your final earnable compensation is calculated by changing it to “base pay”. The bill also phases in the required payments over 4 years before cities and towns have to pay this amount in full. This does not change your retirement amount just who pays for it. Now, it comes out of the New Hampshire Retirement system. If this new law passes, the community you work for will have to pay anything over 125% of your base pay. This will and has directly affected many of our members negotiations at the local level. They will try to remove or lower earned sick, vacation, co-curriculum activities stipends.
The bill is still in the ED and A subcommittee. They are currently working on an amendment.
HB673 –FN
Title: relative to withdrawal of political subdivisions from the New Hampshire retirement system.
This bill would allow cities and towns to withdrawal from the NHRS. This could mean that employees, if the cities or town withdrawals, could no longer have a secure retirement when they retire. THE NEPBA does not support this bill.
The ED and A subcommittee made the recommendation to retain this bill, the full ED and A committee will be voting on this Thursday.
SB108
Title: establishing a committee to study the imposition of assessments to retirement system employers for excess benefits paid to retirees.
This bill would create a committee to study the obligation of assessments to retirement system employers for excess benefits paid to retirees. THE NEPBA would like to see the membership of this committee changed to add at least two employees to represent the membership.
The Senate ED and A committee made the recommendation to pass this bill, it will be voted on by the full Senate next week.
SB145 –FN
Title: relative to service on the retirement system board of trustees for certain board members.
This bill requires that members of the retirement system board of trustees who are nominated from employee member organizations be permitted by their employers to attend meetings of the board and that costs related to such attendance be paid by the retirement system. THE NEPBA supports this bill.
The full House passed this bill, it will now be sent to the Senate ED and A committee.
SB160 –FN
Title: relative to benefits of dependents of a Group 2 retirement system member who is killed or dies in the performance of duty.
This bill allows the surviving spouse of a Group 2 retirement system member who is killed or dies in the performance of duty to continue to receive a retirement system annuity after the surviving spouse remarries. THE NEPBA supports this bill.
This bill was passed by the Senate. The bill is not yet scheduled for a hearing in the House.
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