For Immediate Release: JACKSON'S "PENSION FAIRNESS" BILL DIVIDES COMMITTEE

The measure would equally apply state employee pension cuts to governor 

AUGUSTA – A measure sponsored by Assistant Majority Leader Senator Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook) that would prohibit the governor from receiving a full pension, unless that governor serves two terms, received a divided report from the committee.

“During the last Legislature, Governor LePage pushed for cuts to state employees’ benefits, including their pensions, but excluded his own,” said Senator Jackson. “I believe that the governor should be held to the same standard.”

Under current law, it is possible for a governor to serve only one day and still receive a full pension of upwards of $26,000 per year. By contrast, state legislators become eligible for $3,400 per year after 12 years of service and only after they pass age 62. They also do not collect social security as the pension system is considered a replacement. Jackson believes that a minimum of four years and one day is appropriate for the state’s chief executive.

After the Committee on State and Local Government voted, Jackson said, “Governor LePage has spent his entire tenure so far attacking public sector workers; asking them to accept cuts to their benefits and lashing out at them at every opportunity. He needs to realize that he is a state worker, too, and that we should all face our fiscal challenges together.”

The measure will face a vote in the Maine Senate in the days to come.

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