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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Casey McCabe, 603-224-7751 ex315
Concord, NH – Today at 9:30am the NH Retirement Security Coalition filed suit against the State of New Hampshire regarding the changes in the State Budget that will affect retirement benefits for the 76,000 active and retired police officers, teachers, firefighters and state and local employees who are members of the retirement system.
Attorney, Glenn Milner of Molan, Milner and Krupski, PLLC, representing the partners of the Coalition, stated at a press conference earlier today, “Today we moved the debate of so called pension reform from the General Court, to the Court of Law.”
The lawsuit was filed to address two provisions in HB2, The first, to stop the NH Legislature from forcing the NH Retirement System Board of Trustees to deviate from their fiduciary responsibility by mandating the use of 5-year-old data to recalculate and recertify employer rates. This executive mandate goes against sound actuary advice the Board of Trustees received at trustee meetings this past spring and would put each board member in violation of their fiduciary duties. Further, the suit addresses the language in HB2 that strips the authority from the current board of trustees as of July 1, 2011. This action prevents the current Board of Trustees from seeking relief from The Court on behalf of the members and beneficiaries of the system
The second, to stop a 2+% increase to current NHRS members (Group I: from 5% to 7%, Group II (fire): from 9.3% to 11.8%, Group II (police) from 9.3% to 11.55%. This increase in employee rates is nothing more than a public employee income tax, perpetrated against a targeted population of citizens the sole purpose of which is to pay down state and municipal debt. It is also unconstitutional to raise employee rates without a commensurate benefit.
Milner said, “This is just the first step to challenging the constitutionality of House Bill 2.”
Rick Trombly, Director of Policy and Advocacy for NEA-NH, “NEA-NH has worked with legislators, employers and other public employee organizations to strengthen the retirement system. Rather than continuing this collaborative effort, this legislature chose to pass a bill which is more politics than policy. Breaking one’s word to thousands of New Hampshire workers should not be as easy as this legislature has made it, especially when that word was given in the name of the citizen’s of this State.”
“You would not expect a police officer to change the game midway, and we don’t expect the state to do so either. The benefits that were promised at the beginning of one’s permanent career are those that should be honored and received. Changing the definition and understanding of someone’s benefits package halfway through is not only unfair it is unjust,” explained President of the NH Police Association, Jeff Stiegler.
Diana Lacey President of State Employees Association of New Hampshire – SEIU Local 1984 stated, “By passing this legislation the NH House and Senate set aside the responsible approach and instead sacrificed the people of NH. Like the nursing home housekeeper, who hasn’t seen a raise in years, pays half her paycheck for health insurance, and whose unemployed husband struggles to find a job. She already makes so little – less than the inmates in jail across the street. She knows this isn’t her bill to pay and yet she’ll see her paycheck cut thanks to Senator Bradley and Speaker O’Brien. It is immoral to sacrifice innocent people for the convenience of an irresponsible legislature and a political agenda that’s fixated on sending people into poverty.”
David Lang, President of the Professional Firefighters of NH, called this legislation, “pension punishment,” saying, “When people’s rights are being trampled on, you have one last resort, the Court, and we are using our last resort. No one wanted to listen to us for six months and gave us no other option. They say this lawsuit throws a monkey wrench in pension reform. Well this is not pension reform, it is pension punishment and what needs to happen is for legislators like Senator Bradley to stop monkeying around with the NH Retirement System.”
The suit filed by the NH Retirement Security Coalition today will address the most immediate concerns with the recent pension legislation in HB2. The Coalition will be moving forward with a different suit in the coming months that addresses the unconstitutional benefit changes proposed in HB2.
The New Hampshire Retirement Security Coalition is made up of the following organizations:
American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 93
American Federation of Teachers – New Hampshire
NE Police Benevolent Association
NEA - New Hampshire
New Hampshire AFL-CIO
New Hampshire Association of Fire Chiefs
New Hampshire Police Association
New Hampshire Retired Educators Association
New Hampshire State Permanent Fire Fighters Retirement Association
New Hampshire Troopers Association
Professional Fire Fighters of New Hampshire
NH School Administrators Association
State Employees Association of New Hampshire – SEIU Local 1984
Teamsters Union Local 633
Download:
 Lawsuit Press Release.doc
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Pension Facts NH September 2011.pdf
