Bill > H3353

This bill, titled "An Act relative to state personnel," establishes an employee retirement incentive program designed to reduce the number of executive department employees and decrease state expenditures. The program aims to achieve significant payroll and net savings in fiscal year 2016 through various means, including continuing hiring controls, offering one-time payments to encourage voluntary resignations or retirements, and implementing the retirement incentive program itself, with a cap of 5,000 employee reductions. The bill defines key terms like "agency" (referring to state government offices and departments), "critical position" (essential roles determined by the secretary of administration and finance), and "executive department employee." The retirement incentive program, managed by the state board of retirement, prioritizes participants based on their total creditable service, with specific eligibility requirements, such as being a member in good standing of the state employees' retirement system and being eligible for a superannuation retirement allowance. Certain employees, including those funded by capital appropriations, federal grants, or trusts, elected officials, and those in designated critical positions, are excluded. The program allows eligible employees to receive additional retirement benefits, calculated as a combination of years of creditable service and age, not exceeding five years, and mandates retirement counseling for participants. The bill also outlines procedures for application deadlines, retirement dates, payment schedules for accrued benefits, and reporting requirements for the secretary of administration and finance to track savings and the impact of employee separations and refilled positions.