Tag Archives for Rep. Patricia A. Serpa

The last hurrah for RI retired pensioners

Published in RINewsToday on May 22, 2023

To this day, talk to any state worker or teacher who retired and they are not happy campers. To the contrary, they remain bitter as to how former Governor Gina Raimondo sold them out with her version of pension cuts in 2011 when state retirees, retired teachers, and many municipal retirees had their annual pension Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) suspended, and public workers had to trade in part of their defined-benefit pension plan for a 401 (k) style benefit, putting their retirement at risk. 

Four days ago, just like abortion and gun control legislation, pension change filled Room 35 to capacity with retired teachers and state workers calling for the Rhode Island General Assembly to bring back Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) to the retirees’ pensions.  The Clifford Group, Citizens for Pension Justice, and the Facebook Group, Advocates for COLA Restoration, successfully mobilized their retiree members to come to the House Finance Committee (HFC) held on May 18, 2023.

Putting the spotlight on three pension proposals

Currently there are at least 11 bills in the legislative hopper retgarding COLAs for state workers and teachers and the HFC heard testimony on many of these bills. These bills were held for further study in Committee. According to RI General Law Title 36-20-39 any proposed bills impacting the retirement system shall not be approved by the General Assembly unless a “pension impact note” is appended to the proposed legislation.  At press time this has not occurred.

Here are three of the pension bill fixes considered at last Thursday’s HFC:

Kicking off the over three-hour long hearing Rep. David A. Bennett (D-District 20, Warwick) called for HFC’s 15 members to pass H 5038, a bill that would restore the COLA to state employees and other RI pension system members  who retired prior to July 1, 2012.

Looking back when he was a freshman lawmaker in 2011, Bennett remembers voting to eliminate the retirees’ COLA because the administration told him that keeping the COLA would bankrupt the state and nullify all contracts.  “This is the only bill I have strong regrets voting for and it affected a lot of people, some of them already deceased,” he said. 

“It’s a shame and I wish I would never have voted yes to taking away the retirees’ COLA” says Bennett. With the cost of living continuing to increase, people need a COLA,” admits Bennett, noting that they had a contract ensuring a COLA when they retired. “When you retire your pension should be protected,” he says.  

Like Bennett, Rep. Patricia A. Serpa (D-District 27, Coventry, Warwick and West Warwick) expressed concerns about her vote to eliminate the retirees’ COLA over 12 years ago. Serpa told the HFC that “valuable actuarial information was withheld” and that she was “misled back in 2011” about the financial condition of the state’s pension system. 

Serpa acknowledged that many of her former colleagues are suffering because of her “terrible” vote. ”In all of my time it was the worse vote I ever, ever took.  I will never ever, ever, ever again take a vote like that against retired teachers or retired state employees,” she pledged.

“I have spoken to a number of people since that vote.  People I respect.  People with degrees in accounting and they have clearly indicated that the pension fund could easily have been amortized and left almost whole,” says Serpa. 

Serpa is the sponsor of H 6295 which provides a one-time stipend of 3 percent of retirees’ first $30,000 for all teacher and state retirement members, including many municipal systems retirees. This stipend, coming from the state’s General Fund, may be renewed annually by the General Assembly based on the state’s fiscal status. 

H 6295 would at least provide temporary relief to the retirees,” says Serpa, admitting that she is “not married to her bill” and has signed onto every pension bill that has come before her.  “I have been here long enough to know that if you have only one idea in the hopper you have no cards to play with”, she says. “We must put the ideas out there to start a conversation. and we have to take action soon,” notes Serpa. 

State Treasurer James Diossa  requested Rep. William O’Brien (D-District 54, North Providence) to introduce bill H 6006 that would provide a one-time allowance of $500 for eligible members of the employees retirement system of Rhode Island.

“H 6006 provides meaningful relief to those struggling to buy gas or groceries,” says Diossa, noting that over 30,000 retired teachers, state and municipal employees would benefit from passage. “This bill would not impact the pension system like other COLA restoration and stipend proposals would,” he said, stressing it would provide relief while maintaining the stability of the pension funds.  Diossa acknowledged that many might be frustrated knowing that it’s a stipend only and not a COLA.

To watch the May 18, 2023 hearing of the House Finance Committee, go to https://ritv.devosvideo.com/show?video=f66975520d59&apg=52ab780b.

Retirees weigh in

According to W. David Shallcross, a former Cranston teacher and retired Lincoln school principal, many Rhode Island state workers and teachers do not receive Social Security coverage. The state pension system was established in 1936 as an alternate Social Security plan. The state required by Rhode Island law that every teacher and state worker must participate and that the employer, the state, like all employers, must contribute.

Shallcross stressed that to teachers and state workers “this is not free money, it is money they ‘banked by RI law’ to sustain them when they retire. They contributed a significant portion of their wage as long as they were employed.

“Today’s dollar is only worth 68 cents compared to the 2012 dollar. Yearly, Social Security adjusts benefits based on the cost of living in the preceding year. Rhode Island has done nothing in this regard for retirees in the last 10 years. Yet our legislators continue to enjoy the COLA first awarded them in 1995,” he charged.

Retired State Employee Santa Priviter strongly supported the passage of H 5038, opposing any retirement bills [considered by the HFC] which offer a one-time stipend and/or distribution schedules for pension benefits. “Those other bills would still maintain the RI Retirement Security Act formula which effectively eliminates retirees’ inflation protection,” she says.

“A one-time taxable stipend worth about $1.00 per day for one year – or 25 cents per day for 4 years – is not a COLA because it doesn’t offer continuing, real relief against inflation.  H 5038 does,” notes Priviter.

“Our newly elected treasurer has offered a $500 onetime stipend.  How utterly insulting.  What can $500 buy?”  asks Lorraine Savard, a teacher who retired in 2004.  “The millions in this years’ financial state surplus can be used to give teachers and state workers a much needed financial boost. If not the return of our COLAs, then other creative compensations, for example a reduction in state income tax on state pensioners,” she urges.

“As you know, since 2012 the value of our pension benefits has decreased by 30%”, said Brian Kennedy, a former state worker employed for over 30 years at Rhode Island’s Division of Personnel at the Office of Human Resources.  “In the same time period, the State Budget has increased from $7.7 billion  to $13.7 billion,” he says.

Kennedy acknowledged that it is highly unrealistic to consider being reimbursed all the COLA monies owed, as some other bills provide, but he urged the HFC to consider adjusting the 2012 base for computation of the go-forward COLAs.  That base should be increased by the inflation rate from 2012 to the current time in order to reflect 2023 dollars.

According to Kennedy, in dollar amounts, the average individual “increase” over the last ten years is roughly $10/month. “Our pensions reflect 2012 benefits paid with 2023 dollars, a windfall for the state, but an insult to the retirees,” he says.

“Is there anything more sinister than mandating a “reform” program with a twenty year finish line to elderly retirees with a twenty year mortality rate?  Coincidence?” he quips.

Patricia E. Giammarco, from Citizens for Pension Justice, agrees with Kennedy’s assessment that it is now or never. “It’s abundantly clear that the state will be spending less and less on COLAs until it reaches the illusory 80% funding, when most pre-2012 retirees will be dead.  To ask us to continue to subsist on virtually nothing, only to receive that virtually nothing once a year or once every four years, is not only highly suspect, I feel it is downright treacherous,” she says.

Giammarco ends her testimony by stating: “You can disguise a pig and bring it to market trying to sell it as a cow, but in the end, it’s still a pig.  I would ask this body to absolutely reject the offerings of any false prophets and to do the only thing that is ethically, morally, and legally acceptable when viewed in the totality of the circumstances.  Support H 5038 and return to the retirees who retired prior to July 1, 2012, that which should never have been taken away – their contractually guaranteed 3% compounded COLAS.”

Susan Sweet, a former state associate director of the Department of Elderly Affairs and an advocate for seniors facing hardships and low-income difficulties, remembers being part of the original group opposing the pension cuts and the broken retiree contract and being told by the state arbiters that the pension cuts were entirely political, not financial.  Members of the General Assembly were deceived regarding the need and impact of the cuts.  No other state has taken benefits away from already retired workers who have fulfilled their side of the contract. Two tried but were struck down by their courts.

“A Rhode Island Superior Court ruling states that a COLA and a pension are “one and the same” and ‘not gratuities’, Sweet quotes, “and the General Assembly was advised otherwise even though the state’s actuary advised against this. How long will this injustice continue? House bill H 5038 and the companion bill in the Senate which is identical, S 0564, are the most reasonable and responsible pieces of legislation being considered.  I urge all Representatives and Senators to pass this legislation before it is too late to benefit the retirees who were dealt this terrible blow to their later years.”

The clock is ticking… with the state’s now-estimated surplus of $500 million plus and millions received from the Wells Fargo settlement, it’s time to act now.  The General Assembly must not continue to kick the can down the road until the can is destroyed and the retirees are all dead.

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Senate Task Force Calls for Action to Combat State’s Growing Elder Abuse

Published in the Woonsocket Call on June 30, 2019

With the 2019 General Assembly Session ending Friday, June 28, Senator Cynthia Coyne (D-District 32, Barrington, Bristol, East Providence), who led the Senate’s Special Task Force to Study Elderly Abuse and Financial Exploitation, successfully spearheaded an effort to pass legislative proposals to beef up the state’s efforts to combat elder abuse, that is growing and vastly under reported.

“The prevalence and projected growth of elder abuse and exploitation is deeply troubling, particularly in light of our findings that its full extent can’t be known because it is so rarely reported or investigated,” said Coyne in a statement announcing the release of the Senate Task Force’s final report. “As the baby boomers become seniors and our elderly population grows, it’s critical that we do everything we can to protect older Rhode Islanders from this abuse. We are confident we can make significant improvements to prevent elder abuse and exploitation, and I’m grateful for the commitment of my colleagues in the Senate to this issue,” says Coyne.

The Senate Task Force, began studying the prevalence and impact of elder abuse and financial exploitation in Rhode Island last December, releasing its final report June 28, in Room 313 on the third floor of the statehouse, calling for education about elder abuse and monitoring efforts to prevent it.

Rhode Island Elder Abuse Incidents Are Increasing

The 130-page report, citing data supplied by the Rhode Island Division of Elderly Affairs (RIDEA), warns that elder abuse and financial exploitation in the Ocean State is prevalent and incidents are increasing. According to RIDEA, “there were 1,377 confirmed cases of elder abuse in 2017, which is 444 cases more than only five years prior. As the nation’s population of people age 65 and over is expected to double by 2060, the problem is expected to continue growing. Among the recommendations is that the state collaborate with existing community organizations and support outreach and education efforts that specifically focus on seniors and those who interact with them.”

Elder abuse is underreported, too, says the Senate Task Force report, noting that “Only 1 in 23 cases of elder abuse is reported to adult protective services.“ The report recommends strengthening outreach and education efforts for the public, health care workers and others who interact with seniors, and working to dispel stigmas so seniors will be better enabled to report abuse.

The Senate Task Force report also warns that older Rhode Islanders are also extremely vulnerable to financial exploitation, caused by a multitude of factors including a senior’s health, life savings and technology now available to electronically transfer money. With this problem expected to continue growing, it calls for better education for passage of legislation similar to a Connecticut law that requires training for agencies that employ individuals to care for seniors. Another recommendation is to consider a law like one in Delaware to allow financial institutions to place a hold on accounts when they find suspicious transactions.

The Senate Task Force also recommends supporting the Saint Elizabeth Haven for Elder Justice and its enhanced Training and Services to End Abuse in Later Life grant program, and strengthening services available through the POINT, the senior resource service at the Division of Elderly Affairs.

Passed Elder Abuse Legislation Heads to Governor’s Desk for Signature

As the result of this Senate Task Force, in the final days of the General Assembly, Coyne and Rep. David A. Bennett (D-District 20, Warwick, Cranston) introduced legislation (S 0603A, H 5573) to combat tackle the issue of elder abuse in the Ocean State. The legislation, expanding an existing law that requires people who have reasonable cause to believe a person age 60 and over is being abused, neglected or mistreated to report it to the Division of Elderly Affairs, which will report the incident to law enforcement if appropriate and intervene, was passed an now heads for the Governor’s desk for signature. .

Currently, health care providers and others who come into contact with elderly or disabled people in health care facilities are required to report suspected abuse or neglect within 24 hours. The enacted law adds a section of law requiring reporting of suspected abuse, exploitation, neglect or self-neglect of people over age 60, regardless of whether they live in a health care facility. It also expands the list of those required to report suspected abuse to include physician assistants and probation officers and protects employees who report abuse from liability (unless they are found to be a perpetrator) or negative consequences at work for reporting abuse or neglect.

The Rhode Island General Assembly also passed legislation (S 0845A, H 6114) sponsored by Coyne and Rep. Patricia A. Serpa (D-District 27, West Warwick, Coventry, Warwick). The legislation requires the collecting municipal probate data to access the guardianship program, as well as to seek federal grants to support education, monitoring and resources for guardians. It also recommends a nationwide criminal background check for anyone seeking guardianship or limited guardianship of another adult, even temporarily. Under the bill, anyone who is found to have been convicted or plead nolo contendere to charges for a variety of crimes, including violent crimes or crimes involving abuse or neglect of elders, would be disqualified.

Members of the task force include Senator Coyne; Senator Sandra Cano (D-District8, Pawtucket); State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Kathleen Heren; Special Assistant Attorney General Molly Kapstein Cote; Mary Ladd, chief of program development at the Rhode Island Division of Elderly Affairs; AARP- Rhode Island Associate State Director John DiTomasso; State Police Detective Kyle Shibley; Warwick attorney Mark Heffner; and Saint Elizabeth Haven for Elder Justice Director Jeanne Gattegno.
With the release of its report this month, Coyne’s Special Task Force to Study Elderly Abuse and Financial Exploitation, is off to a good start by giving the Rhode Island General Assembly a legislative road map needed to protect vulnerable Rhode Island seniors from physical, emotional and financial abuse. It’s a first step, but hopefully not the last. Senate leadership might consider making the Senate’s Special Task Force to Study Elderly Abuse and Financial Exploitation, permanent, charged with recommending legislative proposals each session, mirroring best practices, gathered from other states, to combat elder abuse.

To get a copy of the Senate Task Force’s elder abuse report, to http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/commissions/eafe/commdocs/Special%20Task%20Force%20to%20Study%20Elderly%20Abuse%20and%20Financial%20Exploitation%20REP.pdf.

Herb Weiss, LRI’12, is a Pawtucket writer covering aging, health care and medical issues. To purchase Taking Charge: Collected Stories on Aging Boldly, a collection of 79 of his weekly commentaries, go to herbweiss.com.