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Governor defends boost in firefighter pensions |
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Tuesday, June 24, 2008
By KATHIE DURBIN, Columbian Staff Writer Gov. Chris Gregoire, visiting Vancouver for the third time in six days, told a statewide convention of firefighters Tuesday that she fought this year to win improved pension benefits for public safety workers over the objections of some lawmakers in Olympia.
“There are some in the Legislature who say you ask for too much, you ask for more than your share,” Gregoire said at the opening session of the Washington State Council of Fire Fighters. She disagrees, she said.Because firefighters put their lives on the line, she said, “the laws and the pensions are what you need and deserve.”The association, which has endorsed the Democratic governor in her reelection campaign against Republican Dino Rossi, is holding its annual convention at the Vancouver Hilton Hotel through Thursday.Gregoire said she intervened with House members during the 2008 legislative session to win passage of Senate Bill 6573, which authorizes transfers of state general fund revenue to a new “Local Public Safety Enhancement Account” beginning in 2011. Half those funds will go into a special account within the existing Law Enforcement Officers’ and Fire Fighters’ Retirement System Plan 2, a pension plan known as LEOFF 2. The remaining funds will be distributed to local governments for public safety programs.Fund transfers are expected to grow from $5 million in 2011 to $50 million in 2017. Transfers will be made only in odd-numbered years in which state revenue collections increase by more than 5 percent from the previous biennium.Gregoire also supported changes to the Industrial Insurance Act expanding insurance coverage for firefighters. The act added certain cancers and presumed occupational diseases, including heart problems that occur within 24 hours of a strenuous event due to fire fighting, to the list of conditions covered under the act. All told, Gregoire said, she has signed 17 bills as governor to improve benefits for public safety workers.“It’s because the system wasn’t working and something needed to be done,” she said.Retired government workers are twice as likely to get a pension as workers in the private sector, and the typical benefit is far more generous — a median of $17,640 in 2005, compared to $7,692 for private-sector workers, according to the Congressional Research Service.And police and firefighters typically receive full pension benefits at a younger age and with less service than other public employees, in part because their jobs involve high-risk service to protect lives and property.In her opening remarks, Gregoire said, “I have come to Vancouver more in the last month because of all the conventions here.”She credited Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard for her frequent visits, noting that the mayor has been busy recruiting groups from all over the state to hold their conventions in Vancouver.Gregoire spoke to the Veterans of Foreign Wars statewide convention last Thursday and returned Sunday to speak at the Clark County Democrats’ Annual Jefferson Jackson Dinner and Auction. |
