A state lawmaker asked the attorney general's office Monday whether the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System can release names of elected officials who collect retirement benefits while still serving as a government employee.
State Rep. Allen Kerr submitted a letter to Attorney General Dustin McDaniel questioning whether state law will allow the system to identify elected officials suspected of not vacating their offices while accepting retirement payments.
Kerr says he's worried that a list being compiled by legislative auditors of elected officials in similar situations may not be made public. The retirement system's attorney said he believes the list would be kept secret under state law preventing the release of individual members' records.
"The public has a substantial interest in the expenditure of public funds," Kerr wrote in the letter, which he provided to The Associated Press. "This interest is increased when the public funds are going to an elected official that is drawing both a retirement benefit and a salary."
The retirement system's governing board on Aug. 19 approved new rules requiring elected officials with the system to file an affidavit stating they will leave office when they declare themselves retired. The affidavits must be filed with the system at least 30 days in advance.
The move came after it was revealed some elected county officials declared themselves "retired" by taking themselves off the payroll for a period, but without actually leaving office.
Gabe Holmstrom, a spokesman for McDaniel, said the attorney general wouldn't comment on Kerr's question while the letter was being reviewed by his office. Holmstrom estimated it would take at least 30 days for the office to respond to the request.
Jay Wills, an attorney for the system, said he'd abide by McDaniel's advice but said APERS views the list as being exempt from release under the state's Freedom of Information Act. Wills cited state law that prevents the release of individual members' records.
"A lot of it is personally identifiable information about the members themselves," Wills said.
Kerr said that APERS could release a list without that information, though.
"We don't want to know numbers as much as we want to know who's collecting retirement as well as a regular paycheck from their elected position," Kerr said.
The system has also sent letters to six county elected officials suspected of not vacating their offices while accepting retirement payments. The officials have been asked to fill out a questionnaire to determine whether or not they actually vacated their offices.
Wills said that the system hasn't yet received responses from the six elected officials.
Kerr said he planned to bring up the issue before a legislative panel on Tuesday and may ask lawmakers to vote to push for APERS to finish compiling a list within the next 30 days. Kerr has also said legislation will be needed to clarify that elected officials can't collect a pension without vacating their office.
Other state workers have done the same thing - though the process is legal. Lawmakers passed a law this year that extended the cooling-off period between retiring and retaking a position for workers and elected officials from 90 days to six months.