Legislative Update Week of April 4th

2010 Legislative Session

The fate of the bill is still unknown and its possible the real fight will happen on the House floor if the committee comes out with an ITL recommendation. If you support expanded gambling however, now is the time to email the committee members with your opinions. You can find their emails here

SB 489

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The biggest news of the week was the unveiling of the Governor¹s budget

cuts. President Lang sent out an email about them yesterday but I will add

the important points from the proposal here again for your information.

The Governor¹s budget DID NOT include a 1.7% increase in Group II

employee rates, unlike the House Finance Committee position.

The Governor¹s budget reduces revenue sharing to cities and towns by $6

million, a 10% reduction in funds.

The Governor¹s budget reduces the state¹s aid to municipality¹s

retirement costs from 25% to 20%. This was the proposal approved by the

House Finance Committee in HB 1664 and was their reasoning for increasing

our employee contribution.

The Governor¹s budget includes many cuts to the HHS department, the states

largest agency, including a 7.8 million dollar reduction in catastrophic

aid. This program aids those who have terminal illnesses and are not fully

covered by Medicaid.

Lastly, the Governor¹s budget indicates there will be up to 35 state

employee layoffs

The Governor¹s proposal will be heard in a joint Senate and House finance

hearing as a possible amendment to SB 450 which houses a multitude of Health

and Human Services cuts. This is only the beginning of what is shaping up

to be a long conversation about the states finances. I will be sure keep

you all up to date as things progress. Particularly with the cuts to

revenue sharing and retirement aid to cities and towns we will have to

remain vigilant and engaged in this process.

Upcoming legislative action this week:

Tuesday, April 13th

Executive session on SJR 2 : A RESOLUTION endorsing the establishment of a

statewide retiree medical trust for public employee health care

reimbursement benefits after retirement.

Thursday, April 15th

Executive session on SB 489 relative to table gaming and video lottery at

certain locations throughout the state and relative to the recovery of horse

racing

Joint House and Senate Finance Committee Hearing on SB 450 amendment, which

is the Governor¹s budget.

I hope these updates are helpful. If you or any of your members need more

information, or clarification on any of the bills or happenings at the

legislature please call or email me. I¹m always happy to help!

Esther

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