LITTLE ROCK — A state legislative committee approved a move Monday to require teachers and other public-education employees to pay the actual cost of state retirement benefits they can currently purchase at less than the real cost.
The change will keep the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System from spending about $4.6 million a year. Last fiscal year employers (which get tax dollars) paid $389 million into the system, and system members paid $115 million, the system’s director has said.
The Joint Committee on Public Retirement and Social Security Programs unanimously approved House Bill 1212 by Rep. Les Carnine, R-Rogers. It would require members of the teacher retirement system to pay the actual cost of benefits when they purchase “service” in the system.
Retirement system members can purchase “years of service” and thus get credited for more years of service than they literally served. They get larger benefits as a result.
According to a study of the costs to the retirement system, the average system member pays about 45 percent of the actual cost of the benefit. The system and its other members pay the other 55 percent, or about $4.6 million in 2009.
If the bill passes, the cost of a “year of service” will more than double. In fiscal 2009 the average cost was $4,415, according to the study from Southfield, Mich.-based Gabriel Roeder Smith & Co. The average cost for a year of service would increase to about $9,852.
“Various approximations can be made, but when that is done, it will always be possible to uncover cases for which the approximations do not work well. Some will pay too much, while others will get a bargain,” the study states.
Carnine said the change will mean people pay for nearly all the benefit they receive.
“It will nearly equal the amount of money necessary to support the system,” Carnine said.
Retirement System Director George Hopkins told the committee that if the bill passes, the formula used to determine how much a system member pays for a “year of service” will depend on how many years they have been part of the system, their expected salary and age, among other factors.
According to the study, the average service purchase made in fiscal 2009 was by a 54 yearold employee making $53,487 who had 16.6 years of service and purchased an additional 4.1 years.
The committee also OK’d House Bill 1111 by Rep. Randy Stewart, D-Kirby, which would allow the system to recognize a member’s National Guard service from other states and military reserve service for the purchase of system service. Hopkins said the system only recognizes Arkansas National Guard service under existing law.
REDISTRICTING
A glitch in the software used to align census block data with state precinct lines will keep lawmakers from starting the congressional redistricting process until the beginning of March, the chairman of the House committee responsible for drawing the lines said.
State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Clark Hall, D-Marvell, said he is not sure what the exact problem is but it could take two weeks to fix the software and run the numbers.
“It was a glitch in the programming and [the software company was] working on it all weekend,” he said.
Normally, the process is completed before the Legislature adjourns in the spring. Hall said wrapping up redistricting will be a factor in deciding whether to extend the legislative session.
“There has to be a priority consideration on making sure that we get this right,” he said.
The software, AutoBound, is developed by Annapolis, Md,- based company Citygate GIS. According to the company’s website, the software is being used by at least 15 states for the 2010 Census.
TITLE FEES
A bill to increase some motor-vehicle title fees is on hold in the House while its sponsor works to make changes he said will save the measure.
Senate Bill 183 by Sen. Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, would increase motorvehicle title fees to raise about $4.6 million a year for the Arkansas State Police Retirement System.
The bill’s sponsor in the house, Rep. Hank Wilkins, said the changes include specifying when the fees would drop back to current levels and what vehicles would be affected.
“I don’t think we can pass it without those changes, and those changes are technical changes but they’re clarifying changes to help people understand,” said Wilkins, D-Pine Bluff.
The bill would increase the $1 fee for each certificate of title and each duplicate certificate to $2 and the $4 fee for each title application to $8. The fees are paid to the state for registration of motor vehicles, trailers and semitrailers. The bill would take effect July 1.
The bill was passed 27-7 by the Senate. Lamoureux said he wasn’t aware of any problems with the bill.
FOOD PERMITS
The House unanimously voted for a bill to exempt some food producers from Health Department regulations.
House Bill 1323 by Rep. Lori Benedict, R-Salem, would exempt people who sell food out of their home, such as jams or vegetables, or people who sell food locally and in small quantities such as at a farmers market or fair.
The bill also requires the item be labeled “this product is home produced.”
CARBON MONOXIDE
The House voted 52-39 to approve a bill to require low voltage carbon monoxide detectors to be installed by contractors when a new home is being constructed.
House Bill 1385 by Rep. Fred Allen, D-Little Rock, would require detectors on each floor in a home constructed after Jan. 1, 2012. The requirement wouldn’t apply to all-electric homes.
Allen pointed to 19 Arkansas deaths in 2009 due to carbon monoxide gas. He said lawmakers should be proactive about it.
“Time and time again we wait until something catastrophic happens,” Allen said.
PUBLIC DEFENDER FEES
The Senate approved a measure to ban the Public DefenderCommission from paying the fees of an attorney hired on behalf of a poor defendant.
It passed House Bill 1004 by Rep. John Edwards, D-Little Rock, by a vote of 35-0.
The commission is allowed to pay the expenses of private attorneys if the attorney complies with the commission’s standards.
Sen. David Johnson, D-Little Rock, said the bill “clears up a loophole.”
In May 2010, the state Supreme Court ruled that state law wasn’t specific enough to give the commission the option of not paying those fees.
This concerned the case against Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, born Carlos Leon Bledsoe, who is charged with capital murder, attempted capital murder and 10 other counts in the June 2009 shooting at a Little Rock recruiting center that killed Pvt. William Long of Conway.
Muhammed was declared indigent but his parents later hired a Memphis attorney who asked the commission to pay the fees.
HB1004 doesn’t affect Muhammed’s case but applies to future such cases. The bill next goes to the governor.
ABSENTEE MAYOR
The Senate rejected House Bill 1115 by Rep. Betty Overbey, D-Lamar, which would allow certain mayors to designate an “absentee mayor” in case the mayor knows he is going to be incapacitated or otherwise unable to do the job as mayor.
Sen. Eddie Joe Williams, RCabot, said its needed for efficiency in government.
But several lawmakers, including Rep. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock, said the law already allows the City Council to designate a substitute mayor. Hutchinson said the bill would take away power from the City Council.
TRUCK TARPS
Senate Bill 215 by Sen. Kim Hendren, R-Gravette, was approved 28-1 by the Senate.
It expands the requirement for open-bed trucks to have tarps over their loads to cover any vehicle or trailer “when either the motor vehicle, the bed of the motor vehicle, or the trailer” was manufactured after Sept. 30, 2001.
Hendren said state police have told him that some truck drivers were trying to say they were exempt because either their beds, vehicle, or trailers were manufactured before that date, despite one of those three being manufactured after that date.
But Hendren said to get the bill out of the Senate Committee on Transportation, Technology and Legislative Affairs he had to have an exemption for all county-owned vehicles.
Sen. Jimmy Jeffress, DCrossett, said it didn’t seem right that county government “should be allowed to break our windshields.”
GUNS IN DISASTERS
The Senate approved Senate Bill 115 by Sen. Bill Sample, R-Hot Springs, by a vote of 29-5. This would ban cities and counties from passing ordinances regulating firearms after the governor declares a disaster.
Sample said there hasn’t been an example of local governments doing that in Arkansas.
Sen. Jerry Taylor, D-Pine Bluff, said such action by local government would be unconstitutional.
Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, said the bill doesn’t take into account “unforeseen situations” that could arise.
Sample said citizens may need guns to protect themselves after disasters.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/15/2011