NAGE, IBPO Group 4 Bills Reported Favorably from Committee
February 28, 2008
Three groups of public employees represented by NAGE and the IBPO are a step closer to the state retirement system’s Group 4 benefits today after a legislative committee released several bills with favorable reports.
The Joint Committee on Public Service voted in executive session to report the following bills favorably, which means they will continue through the legislative approval process:
- S.1638, which would place police officers at the University of Massachusetts in Group 4;
- H.2765, which would place corrections program officers in Group 4;
- An amended version of S.1565, which would place probation officers and court officers at the Trial Court in Group 4.
NAGE Legislative Director Ray McGrath said that these legislative victories were made possible by the close relationships that he and NAGE lobbyist Tom Clinton have with committee members, as well as the intense involvement of NAGE members in the process.
The blue-ribbon panel that revamped the group retirement process last year, McGrath explained, set a very high hurdle for petitioners to clear. “The legislative team worked closely with all the member locals to make sure that the committee’s strict requirements were met, including detailed reports on costs and feasibility,” he said. “But NAGE has an advantage that lots of other groups don’t, and that’s longstanding, close working relationships with several of the legislators on the committee. Without those relationships, these bills would still be stuck in committee.”
More work remains to be done for several public employee groups who were not included in the bills as reported. The committee amended S.1565 so that associate court officers and assistant probation officers would be excluded. The committee members believed that workers in those jobs were very likely to be promoted into positions covered in S.1565 over the course of their careers, so that Group 4 benefits would be within their grasp. In addition, NAGE tried to include assistant parole officers and juvenile program officers in H.2765, but the committee excluded them. In both cases, NAGE will file legislation to move all of these employees into Group 2 from their present Group 1.
McGrath thanked the chairpeople of the committee, Rep. Jay Kaufman (D-Lexington) and Sen. Anthony Galluccio (D-Cambridge) for their generous open-door policy with the NAGE legislative team. “They knew how important these bills were to our members and they always made time to talk to us about them. They showed real leadership.”
Also instrumental in passage of the NAGE Group 4 bills were several legislative sponsors and supporters: Rep. Tim Toomey (D-Cambridge), who sponsored H.2765; Rep. Stanley Rosenberg (D-Amherst), who sponsored S.1638; and Sen. Joan Menard (D-Fall River), who sponsored S.1565.
The bills will be released from Public Service in several days and will most likely be sent to their respective Ways & Means committees.