State senator jeopardizes new early retirement bill
PHOENIX - A state Legislature bill that would offer many UA faculty and staff members an early retirement window is in serious danger because of stalling by Senate Republicans, the bill's sponsor said.
HB 2014, which passed the House last month, would lessen the state's retirement requirements and increase benefits for employees who retire between the time Gov. Jane Hull signs the bill and Sept. 30.
"If I had the support of Senate leadership, this would be a done deal," said Rep. Debra Brimhall, R-Snowflake. "It would be on the governor's desk."
But the legislation was directed to a Senate committee on financial institutions and retirement, placing the bill's future into the hands of chairman Sen. Edward Cirillo, R-Sun City West.
Cirillo said he will not allow the bill to be heard, which means the legislation will likely die in his committee.
"I am violently opposed to any window programs," he said.
Cirillo said windows put a burden on employers because an abnormally large number of workers retire, leaving bosses scrambling to hire replacements.
UA state lobbyist Greg Fahey said he was not surprised to hear that the bill was locked up in the Senate committee. He said UA administrators favored the bill's benefits increase of about 0.5 percent, but had yet to discuss the logistics of using a retirement window.
"We are certainly interested in higher retirement benefits for our employees," Fahey said, adding that there is talk among senators to increase pensions permanently across the board.
The bill combines employees' ages with the number of years they have worked to calculate retirement benefits.
For example, a 50-year-old retiring professor with 30 years of service who earned an average monthly salary of $5,740 would receive a monthly check for $4,300. Under current law, the same professor would receive $3,445.
Brimhall said the bill would benefit retirees as well as state institutions, including universities and school districts. The system's healthy surplus of $2.5 billion would not be seriously affected by an influx of employees utilizing the retirement window, she said.
But Senate President Brenda Burns, R-Glendale, confirmed yesterday that she would not infringe on Cirillo's decision to kill the proposal.
"My chairmen have the authority to schedule bills or not," she said. "I generally don't overrule them on these matters. If I made overruling my chairmen a common practice, there would be little point to the committee system."
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