Rep. Daley requests retirement hearing
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State Rep. Pete Daley has requested a public hearing on legislation that would provide early retirement incentives for state employees, but it appears the bill may be a nonstarter.
Daley, D-California, said his House Bill 1611 would enable employees under the State Employees Retirement System to receive full retirement contributions before reaching their normal or “superannuation” age. Daley requested the public hearing Dec. 10 through a letter to the majority chairman of the House State Government Committee, Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler.
In the letter, Daley said it was “critical that we consider the savings and jobs to be created before we get too deep into budget deliberations next year.”
“Let’s take a lesson from private industry and utilize early retirements,” Daley said in a news release. “We can save money and create thousands of jobs by offering early retirement that would be funded by the net savings generated (by hiring replacement employees at lower salaries).”
Daley said employees would have to accrue 30 years’ service or age plus service equal to 80 to be eligible.
“By offering employees the ability to receive their retirement without any reductions in benefits under the superannuation age, I think we may potentially see thousands of state employees opt to retire early,” Daley said.
Daley asked Metcalfe for a response to his hearing request within one week.
When Metcalfe was reached Wednesday for comment, he said he was not aware of the request. Metcalfe said the majority of the members on the government committee want to reform the pension system.
“(Daley’s bill) is not going to help the pension problem,” he said.
Metcalfe said he did not support it.
“You won’t see any legislation that allows for early retirement,” he said. “There are other problems we should be focusing on.”
Daley also made a similar request of the majority chairman of the House Education Committee, seeking a hearing on House Bill 1612, which would provide early retirement incentives for public school teachers and employees, his news release said.
“We can give our economy a boost without furloughs, cutting programs or suspending contractual pay increases,” Daley said.