With negotiations completed and a State Budget enacted, the balance of this year’s legislative session will be devoted to moving bills through the legislative process, including proposals to enhance the benefits of State and local public employees and retirees.  This first edition of the Citizens Budget Commission’s 2018 Benefit Sweetener Scorecard identifies 119 such bills active this session, which could cost the State and local governments at least $349 million. The exact cost cannot be determined since two-thirds of the bills are not accompanied by the required fiscal impact statement, or the fiscal impact statement does not provide a cost estimate. Bills to enhance pension benefits are most common; other costly bills would increase disability benefits, enhance death benefits, grant additional paid leave, or expand eligibility or limit changes to health insurance benefits. Some bills apply to public and private employers, and certain proposals purposefully target recent hard fought compromises between the State and organized labor that decreased pension and health insurance costs in exchange for avoiding layoffs. All of these bills should be rejected as they would increase taxpayers’ liabilities without improving services.

As the legislative session continues, the scorecard will be updated to monitor the status of each proposal, and new bills will be added as necessary.