As Legislature Convenes Rare Weekend Session
JULY 29, 2016: Our legislative team will be at work on Beacon Hill through the last weekend in July as the state legislature holds rare back-to-back weekend sessions. The Saturday-Sunday sessions mark the end of the formal legislative calendar for the year.
As Legislature Convenes Rare Weekend Session
JULY 29, 2016: Our legislative team will be at work on Beacon Hill through the last weekend in July as the state legislature holds rare back-to-back weekend sessions. The Saturday-Sunday sessions mark the end of the formal legislative calendar for the year.
Paramount to our Association is a pending vote to override Governor Charlie Baker’s veto of Outside Section 45, which is part of the FY17 budget approved earlier this month. Section 45 extends the Municipal Retiree Health Insurance Premium Contribution Moratorium for an additional two years.
Absent the moratorium extension, some cities and towns will have the immediate ability to increase retiree health insurance contribution rates to as high as 50/50. Only communities that implemented municipal insurance reform under Chapter 69 (Acts of 2011) are subject to the moratorium.
“The purpose of this moratorium is to protect local retirees from the double whammy of higher out-of-pocket costs that came as a result of Chapter 69 and a municipality choosing to also raise contribution rate percentages. Allowing for both is not only unfair, but unaffordable for many retirees,” explains Association President Frank Valeri. “We know that thousands of members have already contacted their State Rep. and State Senator in support of voting to override the veto. If you have not done so, please take the time to call their office this weekend. Ask that they call on the leadership to bring Section 45 forward for a vote ASAP.”