Learn More About SB 544

Who’s Looking Out for Your Retirement Health Benefits?
Healthcare and retirement benefits for public sector workers are under attack. Right now, public sector employees in Nevada are facing large and growing threats to their ability to retire. Late in the 2007 Nevada legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill that is just the latest attempt to limit public sector retiree benefits. That bill, SB 544, will encourage experienced public sector employees to retire early and create a “brain drain” for local governments, limiting their ability to deliver quality public services to Nevada residents.

How Did It Start?
In 2003, the Nevada State Legislature passed a law that contained a loophole giving all retired public sector employees a subsidy for the state-wide health insurance plan. This plan now offers benefits for retirees of state and local governments. Anti-tax and anti-worker groups like the Chamber of Commerce and the Nevada Taxpayer Association saw it as an unnecessary benefit that used too many tax dollars.

Because a retiree health plan only “pools,” or provides benefits for, older individuals who are more likely to get sick and need care, insurance premiums are very high.

This makes public sector retirement health benefits a major target!

What Has Happened Since?
Politicians and powerful special interests in Carson City have been fighting over how to fix this problem since 2003. Some players wanted to create a system for both current public sector employees and retirees, which would have helped to lower costs without cutting benefits. And other organizations, like the Chamber of Commerce and the Nevada Taxpayers Association , just want to do away with public employee retirement benefits all together. The system was in stalemate.

As part of the 2003 law to allow local and state government workers into the plan, the legislature also created an Interim Committee. Most of the decisions determining the future of retiree health care in Nevada were made back then. That is how we ended up with a solution in 2007 that is bad for SEIU Nevada retirees: Senate Bill 544. SB 544 lowers retiree health costs for government by unfairly passing those costs onto retired public servants at Clark County, LVCVA and UMC!

What Does SB 544 Do?
Senate Bill 544 reduces health insurance benefits for any public sector employee who retires after September 2008. This type of policy encourages employees to retire early. This will create a “brain drain” when Nevada public agencies are loses hundreds of senior and experienced employees who work hard and can’t easily be replaced. It will leave Clark County dangerously understaffed.

What Does SB 544 Mean for Our County’s Residents?
As the fastest growing region in the nation, Clark County already faces challenges in recruiting and retaining enough experienced employees to provide quality public services to residents. It will be our residents who suffer when our local agencies experience the retirement “brain drain” from this bad legislation. For example:
 The Department of Family Services is already understaffed. When inexperienced caseworkers are overwhelmed with too many cases, children are at risk.
 Backlogs of new construction waiting for code enforcement and building inspectors will only grow longer, costing our economy.
 Losing our most experienced nurses at University Medical Center endangers the quality of care at our state’s only public hospital.

What Does This Mean for the Future of Public Sector Retirement?
SB 544 is just the first step towards anti-worker forces like the Chamber of Commerce taking all retirement and health care benefits from public sector employees.
Since 2004, SEIU Nevada members have only grown in number and influence. Now is the time for us to work even harder to find a better solution.
SEIU Nevada members have proposed a joint labor-management “work group” to find ways to stop the implementation of the bill as currently planned. Many Clark County managers are just as concerned as we are about the effects this bill will have on services for the county residents, as well as the impact on county employees. 

What Do SEIU Nevada Members Need to Do About the Attack on Retirement Benefits?
The public employee retirement system is broken. The only way to fix it is to participate in the political process. We have a lot at stake in the outcome.

We need to be active in the process to come up with solutions that don’t hurt our communities.
The solution is not to cut the benefits for those that provide vital services to our communities. No hard-working government employee should lose the health and retirement benefits they earned. We need a seat at the table as the state continues to implement this health plan. We can make our voices heard by:

 Telling our elected leaders that SEIU Nevada members want to be part of the solution!
 Volunteering time and donating money through COPE to help elect County Commissioners, State Senators and State Assembly Members who support health and pension benefits for hard-working government employees!