April 9, 2011. ” … the legislature did not listen to anyone and disregarded all the FACTS. They are now on the verge of balancing the state budget on the backs of public employees—essentially with an income tax.”
“Day 35 of the 2011 Legislative Session”
(April 7, 2011)
We have 25 days left of the 2011 Legislative Session – the scheduled day for Sine Die is May 6. Sine Die means “without assigning a day for a further meeting or hearing to adjourn an assembly sine die is to adjourn it for an indefinite period. A legislative body adjourns sine die when it adjourns without appointing a day on which to appear or assemble again.” It is means they will be done passing bills that will wreak havoc on our public schools for another year.
But until then, we still have work ahead of us – the most critical to FEA members, our students and our communities is the 2011-2012 state budget negotiations.
Retirement bills
Back in January we wrote about how lawmakers across the nation were deriding state and local public employees. Their focus was on “the sweet deals” that public employees have gotten in their retirement plans– saying that the plans are out of line with the private sector and far too expensive and unstable to continue. The FEA pointed out to the legislature that Florida’s teachers and other education staff’s salaries and retirement are already at or near the bottom in almost every state ranking. We showed them that the Florida state pension plan is rated one of the best run and financially sound state retirement plans in the nation. We explained that a cut to our members’ disposable income would hurt local economies.
The bad news is that the legislature did not listen to anyone and disregarded all the FACTS. They are now on the verge of balancing the state budget on the backs of public employees—essentially with an income tax.
The good news is 21 senators lead by Sen. Jack Latvala (R-Pinellas) signed on to an amendment which saved the FRS defined benefit plan. We must also thank Sen. Jim Norman (R-Tampa) who made a valiant attempt to stop the mandatory employee contribution to FRS with his amendment to SB 2100.
Before we make comparisons between the House and Senate bills, keep in mind that the bills will be going to Conference Committee starting next Tuesday. This is where members of both chambers will negotiate on the final details of the 2011-2012 state budget.
The main differences between the House and Senate proposals are the elimination of DROP (Deferred Retirement Option Plan) and the employee contribution rate. Both the House and Senate will require employee contributions to their FRS pension plans. The House has a flat rate of 3% for all salary levels. The Senate has a tiered payment approach: 2% on the first $25,000 of compensation, 4% on the second $25,000, and 6% on the third $25,000. For example using $51,000 salary:
2% on $25,000 ($500) + 4% on $25,000 ($1000) + 6% on $1,000 ($60) equaling a $1560 employee contribution.
The House proposal would close DROP to new enrollment as of July 1, 2011. The Senate proposal, thanks to the efforts of Sen. Jeremy Ring (D-Margate), would not close DROP until mid-2016.
These bills will impact more than 650,000 public school, state and county employees however, the legislature refuses to look at any alternatives to balance Florida’s budget other than imposing a new income tax on public employees.
Senate and House budget bills pass and go on to Conference Committee
The House and Senate budgets reflect a reduction in funding per student of $423.27 (6.21%) in the Senate Budget and $463.13 (6.80%) in the House Budget.
Bottom line: both budgets have a severe impact on Florida’s middle class, public employees, seniors and children.
SB 2000 – Appropriations
SB 2002 – Implementing Appropriations
SB 2100 – Retirement
SB 2120 – PreK-12 Education Funding
HB 5001 – Appropriations
HB 5003 – Implementing Appropriations
HB 1405 – Retirement
HB 5101 – PreK-12 Education Funding
We will keep you updated as the budget process continues.
Member Lobbyists visiting Tallahassee
We had a full house this week in the FEA building! Thanks to our visiting member lobbyists from Alachua, Bay, Bradford, Brevard, Broward, Citrus, Dade, Escambia, Flagler, Gadsden, Hillsborough, Jefferson, Marion, Okaloosa, Orange, Pasco, Volusia.
Also joining us were the United Auto Workers, IBEW, Alachua County Labor Party, Alachua CWA Local 3170, NW Central Florida Retiree Council (of Ocala), Citrus Democratic NEA and others community representatives from Alachua County.
Questions? Call FEA Public Policy Advocacy at 850.224.2078