Republican Sen. Thad Altman, who unsuccessfully sued Gov. Rick Scott for killing the state’s high-speed rail project, swiped at his fellow Republican again Thursday — this time over legislation making 655,000 government employees contribute 3 percent of their pay to the Florida Retirement System.

Altman, R-Viera, represents Brevard County and other parts of Florida’s Space Coast, hard-hit by job losses stemming from the federal government’s closure of the Space Shuttle program. The Florida Education Association and other big labor unions sued Scott in Leon County Circuit Court this week to overturn the FRS overhaul (SB 2100).

Scott praised the legislation in a Thursday ceremonial signing in Orlando, saying it is helping modernize Florida’s pension system.

Altman, though sided with public employees in ridiculing the measure as a tax.

“It is important for government to operate efficiently and effectively,” Altman said.  “These individuals protect our quality of life, personal freedoms and insure a bright future for our children; they deserve more.

“This legislation not only hurts public employees, but is detrimental to all the citizens of Florida,” Altman said.

The state’s largest teachers’ union joined with other labor groups Monday in suing to overturn a new 3 percent payroll contribution for the 655,000 workers who belong to the Florida Retirement System, claiming the change violates a 37-year-old contractual agreement with public employees.

The lawsuit was filed in Leon County Circuit Court. But Ron Meyer, a lawyer for the Florida Education Association which filed the suit on behalf of 11 government workers who are members of the FRS, said it will likely wind up being settled in coming months by the Florida Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the 3 percent contributions, which kick-in July 1, should be segregated in a state account, awaiting the  legal outcome, Meyer said. Documents requesting an injunction to set aside the money has been filed by the FEA with Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford, who has been assigned the case

“We believe a promise is a promise and the state of Florida should live by the promises it makes,” Meyer said Monday.

The Republican-ruled Florida Legislature agreed to stop the full-employer paid provision of the FRS, instead making employees pay 3 percent of their paychecks into the plan. The roughly $1 billion drawn into state coffers with the employee contributions helped lawmakers cover an almost $3.8 billion budget shortfall.

Teachers and other school personnel represent the majority of the 655,000 members of the FRS affected by the new law. But the 11 workers suing the state include members of the AFL-CIO, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Fraternal Order of Police, and Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

“It’s a contractual right,” Meyer said of what the union contends lawmakers have violated. “IF you had a 30-year mortgage to buy a house, would your lender 20 years in tell you the house is going to cost 3 percent more?”

Working into the night on the legislative session’s 60th and final day,  the House and Senate debated the $69.7 billion budget — the lone bill by law the Legislature must pass each year.

The rhetoric flew in both chambers, with the partisan lines clearly marked. A final vote isn’t expected until after 10 p.m.

Ruling Republicans praised the spending plan for closing a $3.8 billion shortfall, including no-new-taxes, and managing to avoid deep cuts to programs serving critically ill, elderly and disabled Floridians.

“Contained within this budget is the seed for a money tree,” said Rep. Lake Ray, R-Jacksonville, touting the blueprint’s economic development potential.

Democrats, though,  ridiculed the plan for cutting $1.3 billion from schools, reducing dollars for environmental programs, and imposing 3 percent pay cuts on 655,000 government employees who will have to contribute to the Florida Retirement System for the first time since 1974.

Rep.  Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, has stung House Republican leaders several times this session by accusing them of “sticking it” to various segments of Floridians.

He used the phrase to criticize Republicans for enacting new pay standards for teachers, and changes Clemens and other critics said were aimed at reducing womens’ access to abortion.

“It’s a great day in the state of Florida,” Clemens told the House on Friday afternoon, “because this is the last day I can ask ‘who are we sticking it to today?’ Unfortunately, the answer is Floridians.”

When the House and Senate approved separate budget proposals earlier this month which slashed public school spending by at least $1 billion, lawmakers said they were intent on boosting those dollars before session’s ends.

But wishes met reality Thursday night when school budget negotiators met for the first time and the bottom-line cut mushroomed to $1.3 billion. Per-student funding would drop an average $540 — to $6,269, a deeper reduction than earlier proposed.

Senate schools budget chief David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, said the overall cut includes an $859 million reduction stemming from the demand by lawmakers that 655,000 government workers in the Florida Retirement System, most of whom are teachers, contribute 3 percent of their pay to their pensions.

The $859 million represents a savings for school districts, which formerly paid the entire FRS share. Schools also retain $554.8 million in federal stimulus reserves distributed last fall, said Simmons, who refuted lingering pushback from educators who say it’s unfair to count that cash toward state funding.

“It’s all green money,” Simmons insisted. 

 By his calculus, schools are losing less than 1 percent of funding overall, Simmons said.

Negotiations are slated to renew tomorrow morning.

A key Florida Senate panel eased back Thursday on proposed changes to the state pension plan used by 655,000 teachers and government workers, setting the stage for a likely clash with the House and Gov. Rick Scott.

In a 12-1 vote, the Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee agreed to exempt Florida Retirement System members earning less than $40,000 from contributing to their pensions. Those whose salaries top that would pay 2 percent of their paychecks up to $75,000, when the contribution rate would jump to 4 percent.

Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Margate, sponsor of the measure and the committe chairman, said the new contributions could raise hundreds of millions of dollars.

 But the Senate plan is certain to fall far short of the $1.3 billion Scott and the House are seeking to pull into the recession ravaged budget by making all FRS employees contribute 5 percent of their salaries.

“We tried our hardest and our best not to demonize state workers,” Ring said. “This committee does not believe state workers are the enemy.”

Gov. Rick Scott rejected some GOP lawmakers proposal to phase-in a revamp of the state’s pension system.

Scott’s proposed having state workers kick in 5 percent of their salaries to their pension plans, splitting the 10 percent the state now pays for. That would amount to a 5 percent salary cut for the state’s public school employees, who make up nearly half of the Florida Retirement System.

Senate Education Appropriations Committee Chairman David Simmons said he wants to see the pension reform eased in over more than one year so that beginning teachers won’t get a pay cut while the state’s still struggling to come out of a recession.

Scott says nope.

“It’s only fair. The private sector, they fund their retirement benefits so the public sector ought to be doing the same thing,” Scott said. Asked if he was willing to negotiate on the phase-in, Scott’s response was terse: “No.”

Florida lost $250 million on a 2007 investment in a Manhattan apartment building, the head of the State Board of Administration told the panel overseeing the board this morning.

Peter Cooper Village in NYC is part of the state’s $99.6 billion portfolio that makes up the state’s pension plan.

The state invested $250 million in the apartment complex, where monthly rents range from $2,625 to $8,333, according to the development’s website.

Less than two years later, the value of the investment is zero, Williams told Gov. Charlie Crist, CFO Alex Sink and AG Bill McCollum, who oversee the SBA.

“We think we’re carrying that investment as a zero on our books,” Williams said.

This morning is the first of the quarterly meetings on the state’s investments requested by Sink that the SBA will give to the panel. (more…)