ALAN CHOATE - Daily Herald | Posted: Monday, November 13, 2006 11:00 pm
A bill seeking to clarify the rules for public employees who work after retirement stalled yet again Monday as lawmakers set the bill aside pending the results of an audit.
Democrats on the Retirement and Independent Entities interim committee actually won a party-line vote against moving the bill out of committee.
The legislation is aimed at situations in which a public employee retires, usually early, and then continues to work full time in a similar position.
While the law requires a six-month waiting period before the employee can work for the same agency he or she worked for previously, there are different interpretations of what "same agency" means.
In some instances, people can retire one day and "work across the hall" the next day, said Rep. Mike Morley, R-Spanish Fork.
Morley, the committee's chairman, said he's not sure when the bill will come up again or when the audit -- which is examining the effects of the practice -- will be finished.
"There's been some desire to see if it's a problem when the audit comes out," Morley said. "The audit was supposed to be ready for today, and it wasn't."
The bill is sponsored by state Rep. Glenn Donnelson, R-North Ogden, who said the measure would set up a clear definition of "same agency" that would apply to all public employers.
"What we're doing here is making some definitions that will clarify meanings of agency and departments and things like that," he said. "What this does is makes every department equal. It just plugs the hole in the dike."
He also argued for moving the bill forward even in the absence of the pending audit: "If we have to, we will make some adjustments, but I don't think we'll need to."
Post-retirement employment is considered by many to be an important tool that helps retain experienced employees, particularly in education and corrections positions.
If the practice becomes widespread there is a concern that it would affect the funding of the state retirement system. Contributions to the system are based on employees not retiring early.
Democrats on the committee -- state Sens. Gene Davis and Karen Hale, and state Reps. Neil Hansen, Karen Morgan and LaWanna Shurtliff -- voted against moving the bill forward.
Morley and fellow Republican state Reps. Dave Clark and Becky Lockhart voted for the bill.
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.