Jones: Jindal veto hurts retirees

Gov. Bobby Jindal took away money that 135,000 state government retirees deserved when he vetoed a cost of living increase, state Rep. Sam Jones said Tuesday.
Jones, D-Franklin, said the retirees earned the raise by paying into the retirement system. Jindal vetoed the bill, House Bill 42, Friday.
“The irony of it is that the money is sitting in the account for that purpose and nothing else,” Jones said.
The cost of living raise would have gone to retired teachers, state troopers, Wildlife and Fisheries agents and other state workers, Jones said.
“I really feel sorry for 135,000 people that would be eligible for this and their families,” Jones said.
The bill aimed to provide about $30 more per month to each worker who was eligible, he said.
Jones estimated that the bill would have benefited about 1,500 people in St. Mary Parish. The parish has lots of retired teachers and state troopers, Jones said.
People most affected by the increase are teachers who retired in the late 1960s or 70s and are living below the poverty line, he said.
In Jindal’s veto message regarding HB 42, he said the bill “jeopardizes the state’s credit rating by violating previous retirement reform efforts.”
In 2014, Jindal signed Act 399, which granted a 1.5 percent cost of living starting in July 2014 as long as cost of living increases were granted every other year until the system was 85 percent funded, Jindal said in the letter.
During the 2015 session, Jindal and his staff worked with the author to amend HB 42 “to maintain consistency with Act 399 and grant a cost of living adjustment next year,” Jindal said. In the last minutes of the 2015, Jones removed these amendments, Jindal said.
“Unfortunately, in its final form, this bill undoes prior reforms and undermines our commitment to keep our promises to Louisiana retirees,” Jindal said in the letter.
Jones said HB 42 had reforms in it, which would have made the retirement system stronger.
Jones noted that these state workers don’t get Social Security, and the cost of living adjustments are all they get. Most of the workers don’t even get Medicare, Jones said.
“Because of the governor’s mismanagement of the Office of Group Benefits where they get their health care, the price on that has gone up $50 a month this year along with $25 copays,” Jones said.
During the past eight years, inflation rose 10.5 percent, and state retirees have received just a 1.5 percent cost of living increase in 2014, Jones said. Retired state workers got that increase in 2014 because the state got a good return on retirement investments and had solid earnings again this year, Jones said.
The only way HB 42 can pass now is if the Legislature decides to hold a session to override the veto. The Legislature hasn’t held a veto override session since the current constitution was adopted in 1974.
Though it’s difficult to get legislators to come back for a veto override session, in 2014, the House voted to have an override session but the Senate voted against it, Jones said.
If a veto override session isn’t called, Jones plans to bring the cost of living adjustment bill to the 2016 session, he said.
“The governor used a lame excuse that somehow it might impact the bond rating for the state,” Jones said. “The fact is the bond rating has been in jeopardy now for the last three years, and it was all caused by Bobby Jindal’s mismanagement of state finances.”

This story was written by Zachary Fitzgerald of The Daily Review staff. Reach him at zfitzgerald@daily-review.com.