The Activist

Labor Committee Votes on the "Cliff Correction" Bill  

The Labor Committee voted this week by an 8 to 5 vote to recommend passage of the amended version of LD 1693 “An Act To Restore Equity in the Maine State Retirement System.”  Senator Strimling from Portland presented the amendment to make a one-time adjustment in the State’s payment toward the unfunded liability to make available the needed $100 million for reducing the early retirement penalty from 6% to 3%.  Representative Thomas (R-Ripley) led the opposition to LD 1693 in Committee and was joined by Senator Dow (R-Lincoln), Representatives Duprey (R-Hampden), Hamper (R-Oxford), and Johnson (R-Greenville).

The next step will be for the amended bill to go to the Senate for floor action.  Our hope is that the bill can be held until the end of March in order for the MEA and MSEA to have time to lobby every legislator on this top legislative priority.  It is crucial that extensive local lobbying by our members take place within the next two weeks.

If you have not contacted your Senator and Representative by now, it is imperative that you do so as soon as possible.  The more difficult fight will be in the Senate, so we are encouraging receivers of this newsletter to broadcast this information to as many of your colleagues as possible.

Education Committee Public Hearing Rescheduled

The Education Committee has rescheduled LD 2174 “An Act Regarding Curriculum Requirements and Standards for Awarding a High School Diploma” from the initial date of February, 28^th to Tuesday, March 4^th at 1:00 pm .  The Commissioner’s bill to propose changes to Maine’s high school graduation requirements is expected to receive strong opposition from the education community unless the bill is significantly modified by Commissioner Gendron.