Lawmakers told public pension benefits protected by law
Pension benefits for public employees who have been on the job five years or longer cannot be reduced without violating the constitution, a lawyer in the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services told lawmakers today.

“Benefits are protected for employees with five years or more of service and also retired employees,” OLS attorney Peter Kelly told a legislative committee exploring ways of cutting property taxes by reforming pension and health benefits.

Kelly said a law passed in 1997 gave public employees with five years of service “a non-forfeitable right” to their pensions that can be lost only by dishonorable service.

That law created a contractual obligation on the part of the state that is protect by both the state and federal constitutions, Kelly said. He explained that even if the current legislature repealed the 1997 law, that “would not extinguish the rights” of public employees, who “have expectations protected by the law of contracts.”

The legal opinion by the Legislature’s research arm was welcomed by public employee union leaders.

Robert Pursell, area director of the Communications Workers of America, called Kelly’s opinion “a pleasant surprise” and “a reaffirmation of our faith in the independence of OLS.” While the opinion confirmed the CWA’s long-held position, Pursell said, “You always have to worry about how existing laws are going to be interpreted.”

Carla Katz, president of CWA Local 1034, said, “We’re not the cause of the property tax problem and they’re not going to be able to solve it on the backs of public employees. This hearing today went a long way to making that even more clear.”

Contributed by Robert Schwaneberg