SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 48

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_______________

In the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth General Court
(2015-2016)

_______________

Senator Donnelly moves that the bill be amended by striking out all after the enacting clause and inserting in place thereof the following:- 

“SECTION 1. (a) On or before May 15, 2015, the secretary of administration and finance shall file with the house and senate committees on ways and means a report describing the costs and benefits of a retirement incentive program for eligible employees within the executive branch. For purposes of this act, an eligible employee shall : (i) be an employee of the executive department as of the effective date of this act; (ii) be a member in service of the state retirement system in accordance with paragraph (i) of clause (a) of subdivision (1) of section 3 of chapter 32 of the General laws as of the effective date of this act; (iii) be classified in Group 1 of said retirement system in accordance with clause (g) of subdivision (2) of section 3 of said chapter 32 as of the effective date of this act;  and (iv) be eligible to receive a superannuation retirement allowance in the absence of this retirement incentive program in accordance with subdivision (1) of section 5 of said chapter 32 or subdivision (1) of section 10 of said chapter 32 as of the effective date of this act.

Included in this report, the secretary shall analyze the cost of a backfill program, whereby, the secretary of an executive office, with the approval of the secretary of administration and finance, may fill an executive department position vacated as a result of participation by an eligible employee in the retirement incentive program included in the previous paragraph and the governor may fill a position in the office of the governor vacated by such participation; provided, however, that the total annualized cost of regular compensation paid out by the commonwealth in fiscal year 2016 for all refilled positions shall not exceed 20 per cent of the total annualized cost of regular compensation that would have been paid out by the commonwealth during fiscal year 2016 for positions vacated in the executive department pursuant to the retirement incentive program had the positions not been vacated; provided further, that the total annualized cost of regular compensation paid out by the commonwealth in fiscal year 2017 for all refilled positions shall not exceed 20 per cent of the total annualized cost of regular compensation which would have been paid out by the commonwealth during fiscal year 2017 for the positions vacated in the executive department pursuant to the retirement incentive program had the positions not been vacated.

(b) For the purposes of this act, an executive department employee is a person who is employed by the office of the Governor, or by an executive office of the commonwealth, as defined by section 2 of chapter 6A, or by an agency, bureau, department, office or division of the commonwealth within or under the control of the governor or a secretary of an executive office. Words used in this act shall have the same meaning as those in chapter 32 of the General Laws unless the context clearly provides otherwise.

(c) Notwithstanding the foregoing, the following employees would not be considered eligible for the purposes of  this act: (i) employees whose compensation, in any part, is funded from a federal grant, trust, or capital appropriation, each as defined in section 1 of chapter 29 of the General Laws; (ii) elected officials; (iii) employees who are eligible for the retirement incentive program established pursuant to section 40 of chapter 79 of the acts of 2014;  and (iv) employees or members of the state retirement system who, as of the effective date of this act, are not contributing to the retirement system pursuant to section 90G3/4 of chapter 32 of the General Laws, or who have not completed reinstatement pursuant to section 105 of said chapter 32. The Massachusetts Transportation Trust Fund established pursuant to section 4 of chapter 6C of the General Laws shall not be deemed to be a “trust” for the purposes of this paragraph and employees whose compensation is paid from the Massachusetts Transportation Trust Fund shall be deemed members of the executive department as defined in subsection (b) if they otherwise satisfy the requirements for eligibility defined in subsection (a).

(d) The report shall detail  the number of employees in each department of the executive branch that would be eligible to participate in the retirement incentive program as defined in subsection  (a), the estimated salary savings from said program in fiscal years 2016 and 2017 as a result of such employees’ participation, the number of positions by department that have been or are expected to be refilled before June 30, 2016 under subsection (a), and the estimated salary  and benefits cost in fiscal years 2016 and 2017 on account of such refilled positions.   The secretary shall survey all eligible employees to determine the number of employees per department that would participate in a retirement incentive program as described in subsection (a). For each position being held by an employee that responds with interest in participating, the report shall detail the salary, benefits, increase in pension cost due the retirement incentive, and the duties and expertise associated with that position. The secretary shall also identify every position that will likely be vacated as indicated by the survey, determine if the position is critical to the functioning of the agency and make a determination on whether the position will be refilled as part of the backfill program described in subsection (a). For each position that will not be refilled under subsection (a), the report shall also detail how the duties and expertise associated with the position have been or will be fulfilled or otherwise accounted for by the relevant agency, bureau, department, office, or division of the executive department.

SECTION 2. On or before July 1, 2015, the secretary of administration and finance shall file with the house and senate committees on ways and means a report listing any positions within the executive branch that based on published criteria by the secretary, do not contribute to directly or indirectly providing services to residents of the commonwealth or contribute to the smooth operation of agencies and departments within the executive branch.  The report shall include by department the name of any such position, the salary, the job description and the rationale used in determining that the position meets   the criteria as defined in this section.”