Worker reps critical of PEIA funding fix in proposed state budget

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — At the close of the 2016 Regular Legislative Session, labor leaders are claiming leading Republican lawmakers have not made funding for the Public Employees Insurance Agency a priority.

“This is nothing more than a Band-Aid approach,” said Josh Sword, secretary-treasurer of the West Virginia AFL-CIO and a member of the PEIA Finance Board, of the House budget, under consideration Friday, that included $67 million for that state worker and retiree insurance program.

During the past two months, Republican leaders have repeatedly pledged “full funding” for PEIA in FY 2017 and delivered with a budget that included sweeps of agency accounts for funding along with more than $31 million from the Rainy Day Fund.

“When we get to talking about 2018 and beyond, we have to first find $67 million, because they used one-time money to fill that budget hole, and then also consider any additional new costs or inflation,” Sword said.

He was part of a Friday press conference at the State Capitol that also included representatives from the Communications Workers of America, the West Virginia Education Association, the West Virginia American Federation of Teachers and the Affiliated Construction Trades Foundation.

“I’m calling on this Legislature to find a solution and not a short-term solution, a long-term solution,” said Elaine Harris, a CWA representative, as she talked about the “frustration we’re all feeling.”

In all, more than 200,000 state and local public employees and their families are insured through PEIA.

“This legislative leadership has wasted 58 days,” said Christine Campbell, WV-AFT president.

According to Dale Lee, WVEA president, most public employees have found this a “very disappointing session.” Of claims that PEIA is fully funded for 2017, “That statement is simply false,” Lee said.

Sword agreed. “If we were truly going to fully fund PEIA, we would be looking at an amount closer to $90 million instead of $67 million, because we have roughly $23 million to $25 million in the form of premium increases and benefit reductions,” he told MetroNews.

Premium increases of 12 percent for all plan members, including retirees, and between $5 million and $6 million in benefit changes are scheduled to take effect on July 1.

After originally approving $120 million worth of benefit cuts, PEIA’s Finance Board signed off on a revised funding plan in January that hinged on approval of Governor Earl Ray Tomblin’s proposed tobacco tax increases which were rejected in the House.

“It’s the wrong way to address this when we’ve had every opportunity to discuss and adopt additional revenue measures,” Sword concluded.

Overall, he gives the 2016 Session a failing grade “without question. “Not just for the lack of making funding the (PEIA) budget a priority, but for all of the other things that they’ve made a priority,” he said.

This year’s session opened on Jan. 13 and closes on Saturday night.





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