March 23, 2011

The supposedly frugal Utah Legislature has privatized future state employee pensions, done away with state employee retirement benefits, and plans to close several state liquor stores and lay off 150 workers. But when it comes to preserving their own taxpayer-funded lifetime health insurance, it’s a whole different budget issue. Lawmakers were aghast this past legislative session when Rep. John Dougall, R-Highland, altered his HB331 in the Government Operations Standing Committee to put an end to the 100 percent state-funded health benefit lawmakers and their spouses get for life after they reach retirement age and had served in the Legislature for at least 10 years. Some committee members may have swallowed their tongues when Dougall’s substituted bill would have required that anyone in the Legislature after Jan. 1, 2013, would lose the privilege. Only those lawmakers who retired before then would be grandfathered in. In an era when lawmakers have told providers of state programs that everyone must sacrifice in a time of austerity, nobody wanted to vote against imposing their own sacrifice in a public meeting. So, the bill limiting lifetime health benefits passed committee unanimously. Then it passed the House on a 63-0 vote. But then it died in the Senate Rules Committee after a number of House members let their Senate colleagues know they wanted it dead, but only voted for it in public to save their own political hides. So, all those fiscally conservative public servants get to keep their benefits for life while they eliminate jobs and benefits for everyone else. The Legislative Fiscal Analyst estimated the benefit package will cost the state $24 million for the lifetime coverage of all current and retired legislators and their spouses, based on average life expectancies. No hypocrisy here in the state of the gun.