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Monday, March 14, 2005

Ind. Gov't. - Prerogatives of legislators and their staffs

Kevin Corcoran of the Indianapolis Star has a lengthy and important story today on some of the special benefits the General Assembly has voted for itself and its staffers. The story is headlined: "Bosma: Now not time to end costly health plan." A quote:

Attacking the perk was a winning issue for Republicans in November. After eight years out of power, they gained a 52-48 House majority based partly on candidates' pledges to rein in a health care benefit most Hoosiers could only dream about.
A sidebar (which I believe also appeared in the Star several years back) explains "how the law came about." It might appear, to phrase it gently, that a lot of thought went into insuring that the whole picture could not be clearly seen via any of its parts. Here is what the Star's sidebar reports:
Lawmakers' retirement health benefit wasn't created by a single piece of legislation. The benefit came together in four separate bills over two years, but only the first bill described the benefit lawmakers were creating.

• Step 1: House Enrolled Act 1667, passed in 2001, defined the House speaker and Senate president pro tempore as "public employers" for purposes of offering subsidized health insurance to ex-lawmakers, ex-lawmakers' spouses, their children and ex-spouses. The Legislative Council, composed of legislative leaders, was made the "employer" for purposes of offering similar coverage to retired legislative staffers and their families. The plan was activated in mid-2002 for ex-lawmakers and in February 2003 for retired legislative staffers.

• Step 2: A paragraph included in House Enrolled Act 1193, also passed in 2001, prohibited the House speaker, Senate president pro tempore and Legislative Council from revoking post-retirement insurance coverage, once offered. Only a vote of the entire General Assembly can revoke it.

• Step 3: A paragraph tucked away in House Enrolled Act 1196, a massive bill passed in 2002, gave the House speaker, Senate president pro tempore and Legislative Council power to tap a special fund to pay for retired lawmakers' and retired legislative aides' health benefits.

• Step 4: Senate Enrolled Act 506 would have created the special fund, without stating its true purpose, but then-Gov. Frank O'Bannon, a former legislator, vetoed it. The next day, a veto override attempt failed 26-25 in the Indiana Senate, with then-Lt. Gov. Joe Kernan casting the deciding vote. The fund has not been created.

I'm unclear after reading this as to what the effect of the failure to create the fund has been.

(I expect to add links to the laws referenced when I have a chance. I understand there are also certain documents involved that activate the plan, but it seems unlikely they are readily accessible.)

This is "Sunshine Week," as a number of editorials yesterday noted. That caused me to recall again last session's fight over "PERF Privacy" -- a result of the General Assembly's closing the door on public access to information on the amounts of legislators' state pensions. There were many editorials about this action last year. What has happened since? One bill was introduced this year "to resolve the problem," House Bill 1195. It never moved out of committee. There have been no editorials. For a complete review, see this Feb. 10th ILB entry.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 14, 2005 08:10 AM
Posted to Indiana Government | Legislative Benefits