Senate Bill 115, as passed (Educational Employee’s Pension Plan)

This ERB bill, as twice amended, takes this approach to long-term sustainability: changes for current retirees; changes for current members; and changes for new members. These changes will get ERB to 100.7% funded in 2043, whereas no other pension plan in this state is required to meet those same levels of funding in such a short time period.

The bill, as amended:

Raises contribution rate for all employees with salary of $20,000 and above:

- FY 2014 Employee Contribution Rate - 10.1% (School administrators are having the 10.1% they are required to pay covered out of lump sum individual school employee salaries funding as a deferred salary benefit. These administrators pay nothing into the pension plan out of their current salaries.)

- FY 2015 Employee Contribution Rate - 10.7% (How would you like to be forced to pay this much of your annual income into a retirement fund?)

- Employees with annual salary below $20,000 stay at 7.9%

For new employees hired on or after July 1, 2013: (Part-time employees, whom levels can reach as high as 70% + are still forced to pay into the pension plan.)

- Soft Minimum Retirement Age of 55; actuarial reduction if member retires with 30 years and is younger than age 55.

- COLA begins at age 67, rather than age 65

For current retirees:

Immediately reduces the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for all retirees until the plan is 100% funded. The COLA reduction is based on the median retirement benefit ($18,000) of all retirees excluding disability retirements.

Retirees with benefits at or below the median AND with 25 or more years' service, will have a 10% COLA reduction; their average COLA will be 1.8%. All other retirees will have a 20% COLA reduction; their average COLA will be 1.6%. (Please note that the cost of food, gas, utilities, and housing has not and will not be reduced in the coming years for these retirees who are living on fixed incomes.)

These reductions will stay in place until ERB is 90% funded. Once there, the COLA reductions will decrease. The retirees with benefits at or below the median AND with 25 or more years' service, will have a 5% COLA reduction; their average COLA will be 1.9%. All other retirees will have a 10% COLA reduction; their average COLA will be 1.8%. (No action was taken to prevent payouts to lawyers for fund managers who were sued for mismanaging the pension fund in the first place. It is highly likely that future managers will also mismanage the fund thereby preventing it for every reaching a 90% funding rate.)

Once ERB is 100% funded, the COLA reductions will cease and the average COLA for all ERB retirees will be 2%. This bill is consistent with ERB’s funding policy to ensure ERB's long-term sustainability.

Is it any wonder why State Representatives like Mimi Stewart were so offend by this bill. Yet, the majority of Legislators and School Administrators supported and even voted for this bill.

Pope Francis and Governor Martinez

During the homily this morning, Pope Francis told a crowd of up to 200,000 gathered in front of the Vatican: “I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: Let us be protectors of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment.” The Pope also said, “We must not be afraid of goodness or even tenderness.”

Of course this plea falls on deaf ears when it comes to Governor Susana Martinez. If anything the governor rewards the rich while taking more from the poor in this state. With the signing of the budget this year the governor will cut taxes to corporations in this state while cutting pensions for retired educators who live on fixed incomes. The governor will underfund education and roads in order to fund cuts to corporate taxes. The business community is very happy with the legislature and the governor this year. They say it is the best year they have ever seen, which translates to the worst year the voting public has ever seen.

The item that failed this year was an increase in minimum wage that would have increased income for the working poor. This is something that the governor opposed from the start. So much for caring for or protecting the poor in this state, perhaps the Pope can success where Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan has failed when it comes to convincing the governor that she has a duty to New Mexicans who are not rich.

The governor has failed from the very state to protect the poor and minorities. She has attacked immigrants and women. She brought in an educational administrator who has not spent time in the classroom teaching during her career. She made dirty deals with people who promote gambling and horse racing. She replaced sunshine with darkness when it came to state government contracts. She purchases an expensive coffee pot when the funding could have been better spent to help the poor and people with disabilities.

Clearly the Pope has a lot of work to do when it comes to turning Governor Martinez from the dark into the light. I have no problem believing that her mother had a hand in guiding her toward Pope Francis today.