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Friday, January 06, 2006

Ind. Gov't. - More on: Secrets of health care pact for legislators and staff may be revealed

Here is how it works (see also ILB entry from earlier today):

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. [see p. 5, SECTION 6 - a simple majority in each house is all that is required]

• 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. [Check p. 153, SECTION 141]

• 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. [See SECTION 1 - This would create a non-reverting fund, to which "unused approriations were to be transferred, to be used as described in the preceding bullet point. To get an idea how it would work, see IC 2-5-1.1-18 and the reserved section above it.].

[emphasis and comments added]

The above is from a sidebar to a story by Kevin Corcoran of the Indianapolis Star, published on March 14th, 2005. I've added the annotations. The story itself is no longer freely available, but is quoted in this ILB entry from the same date.

Additonally see these statutes: IC 5-10-8-8.1; IC 5-10-8-8.2; IC5-10-8-8.3; and IC 5-10-8-8.4. They are available here.

Legislators Pensions. In my earlier entry today I said this may be only part of the benefits story. As some readers may recall, two years ago a number of newspapers in the state unsuccessfully sought to gain access to information about pension (as opposed to health) benefits of state legislators. It turns out the ILB did a comprehensive wrap-up of the "PERF Privacy Issue" and posted it in this entry dated Feb. 10, 2005.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 6, 2006 04:34 PM
Posted to Indiana Government | Legislative Benefits