Unconstitutional Public Pension Reform Bill Moves Towards Passage

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The other half of the pension reform bills, SB 1609, was approved by the House on Thursday. It now goes back to the Senate with amendments for a final vote. Pension reform passes House:

[SB 1609] passed the House on a 36-20 vote. It goes back to the Senate for final approval next week. Senate President Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, said he expected it to pass easily.

The legislation significantly changes a program for public-safety officers called the Deferred Retirement Option Plan, or DROP. The program has provided six-figure payouts at the moment of retirement to police officers and firefighters who agree in advance to work up to five extra years before retiring.

The bill also would make it more difficult for public employees to retire and immediately return to work, a practice critics call double dipping. And it makes numerous pension changes for new government hires.

The legislation is the signature bill of House Speaker Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, and Sen. Steve Yarbrough, R-Chandler. The two have worked throughout the session to fix Arizona's ailing public-pension systems.

The push for reforms came after The Arizona Republic in November published an eight-part series detailing how the state's pension programs, and those of Phoenix and Tucson, had hung a huge financial burden on state and local budgets.

Focus on this last paragraph. This is editorial content in a news story. We have pointed out in several previous posts how The Arizona Republic investigative report was flawed and seriously misleading (because it relied heavily on "research" (sic) from the anti-union Goldwater Institute). This is a newspaper advocating for a policy position rather than reporting the news, working in tandem with organizations like the Goldwater Institute. That makes this propaganda. The Republic's reporting on this issue is neither objective nor – gasp! – fair and balanced.

For further evidence, see today's hyperbolic editorial opinion (which reads like another Doug McEachern diatribe against unions and working people). A national litmus test for controlling debt.

This is the opening salvo in Gov. Jan Brewer's secret plan to strip public employees of merit system protection. Jan Brewer wants to be the Scott Walker of the West, and The Arizona Republic will be her advocate. The Arizona Republic is continuing its long and sordid history of anti-union, anti-worker advocacy dating back to the 1950s. It is a shameful organization.

House approval of the pension bill came after it was amended on the floor and in committee. It must return to the Senate for final approval. Adams and Pearce said they had Gov. Jan Brewer's assurances that she would sign it.

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If Brewer signs the bill as expected, the legislation could face a legal challenge because the Arizona Constitution does not allow state-pension benefits to be diminished or reduced, said Jim Mann, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police.

Mann said that if public-safety officers had to pay more for their pensions and if cost-of-living raises were lowered, that could be interpreted as a diminished benefit. Lawmakers who oppose the bill also called it unconstitutional and said the state should honor its labor contracts.

Well, there you have it you geniuses at The Arizona Republic. This requires a referendum vote by the voters of Arizona to amend the Arizona Constitution. You cannot do this by mere legislative fiat, nor propagandizing by Arizona's largest conservative newspaper. Once again, this is legislation designed to be a full employment bill for the lawyers of the Goldwater Institute. This is legislative malpractice.

Arizona Constitution, Article 29, Sec. 1. Public retirement systems:

Section 1. A. Public retirement systems shall be funded with contributions and investment earnings using actuarial methods and assumptions that are consistent with generally accepted actuarial standards.

B. The assets of public retirement systems, including investment earnings and contributions, are separate and independent trust funds and shall be invested, administered and distributed as determined by law solely in the interests of the members and beneficiaries of the public retirement systems.

C. Membership in a public retirement system is a contractual relationship that is subject to article II, section 25, and public retirement system benefits shall not be diminished or impaired.