The legislative session is in full swing with activity on the Fiscal Year 2026 budget underway between the middle of April and the end of May. The House released their budget in the second week of April and debated the last week of April. The bill was then sent to the Senate for action on their version in the third week of May. When we went to print the two versions were set to be reconciled by a Conference Committee made up of House and Senate members. Once the Conference Committee completes their work, the bill will be sent to the Governor for action. The new fiscal year begins on July 1, 2025. Should work not be completed by that date, the branches will take action on legislation that allows the government to continue to operate.
Like the Governor’s version that was filed in February, the House and Senate both included several important items to Mass Retirees members. Included in the versions was the 3% COLA for the State and Teachers’ and both versions included the full appropriation to the pension liability fund for FY26, a total of $4.9 billion. Funding for the Group Insurance Commission was also included along with language that protects the premium splits for state retirees at the current rate.
Legislative Committees have begun to schedule public hearings on legislation that was filed for the 2025-2026 session. We anticipate that with the completion of the FY26 budget process in both branches the schedule will pick up and the legislation that the Association has filed will be scheduled by the Joint Committee on Public Service in the coming weeks.
State retirees and employees will see their Basic Life benefit doubled to $10,000 beginning this July 1, 2025 as a result of one of the Mass Retirees legislative initiatives becoming law on that date.
In 1985, past President and one of the founding fathers of the Association, Ralph White, recognized the need to increase this State Basic Life or “death benefit” so called, from $2,000 to the current level of $5,000. It has remained at that level since that time.
Some 25 years later, after the successful passage of that benefit increase, members began to recognize the significant increased costs in providing for a respectful burial ceremony by family members. This hardship was voiced by so many members that the Association introduced as one of its legislative bills the initiative to increase this benefit to $10,000.
It soon became a legislative priority for the incoming President Valeri as he was also hearing from numerous members that the $5,000 benefit level was not anywhere near the amount needed to allow family members to provide a respectful burial ceremony for our members. After recognizing that the cost for such service had tripled since 1985, President Valeri worked diligently along with Association’s Legislative Chairman Tom Bonarrigo and other Association staff to convey the pressing need for a $10K benefit to the Executive Branch, its Group Insurance Commission that administers the plan and Legislative leadership for the past ten years.
It should be noted that the GIC supported the increase and provided technical data on the cost of the new benefit, which helped get the measure across the finish line last year.
Like many issues the Association advocates on retirees’ behalf, such change takes time. Finally, at the Association’s behest, the House of Representatives included the increase in their enactment of the State Budget last year, with the Senate agreeing to same in conference and then being signed into law by Governor Maura Healey. The language in the law provided for the increase to take effect July 1, 2025 in order to allow for the efficient implementation and smooth transition of the new $10,000 benefit level.
According to President Valeri, “I am so grateful to those who made this a reality. Not only having heard from so many of our members, I also had been experiencing the loss of family members during this period. So I completely understood the problems facing our membership and their concerns for their family being able to afford a respectful burial service during the most difficult time of their lives. This increase should help ease their stress.”
“Also, we hope that history will repeat itself as it did back in 1985 when cities, towns and other local public employers followed the state’s example and raised their Basic Life to $5,000. Our local retirees are deserving of the same improved benefit.”