Francesca Bedell

I am a RI State worker Retiree. The following link is a piece written by an agent from the Economic Policy Institute. The article explains the intentionality of government decisions regarding our pension security... my pension by contract is now around $30,000 less than my defined benefit with the State of Rhode Island.

1. https://www.epi.org/publication/bp363-brief-history-of-cuts-to-the-empl…

2. Following is a submission to the RI Treasurer's Commission investigating what he terms an "unintended consequence" of a law that has taken back money from those of us who were retired prior to the new law.

My name is Francesca Pariante Bedell. I am a retired public-school teacher. I was one of 27,538 retirees who had their financial security upended when the General Assembly chose to ignore the law and instead passed RIRSA, the Rhode Island Retirement Security Act 0f 2011. I am here representing both the Clifford group and the pre-RIRSA Retiree

Pension Justice group.

You know the fix is in when Gina Raimondo as State Treasurer invents a crisis in order to make a name for herself, while at the same time investing the state’s money in the hedge funds of her wall street buddies, paying them large investment fees for little return. This after already investing the state’s money in her own private capital venture fund, paying herself large investment fees that continue to this day.

You know the fix is in when the Economic Policy Institute, a highly-respected, nonprofit, independent think tank, observes the following: “The campaign behind RIRSA, ostensibly a local initiative, was largely funded by a Texas hedge fund billionaire and former Enron trader. The discussion exaggerated the challenges faced by the pension fund and the state while downplaying the damage to workers and retirees, who were the victims, not

perpetrators, of pension underfunding.”i

You know the fix is in when former Representative Spencer Dickinson tries to introduce a bill that would have placed less of a financial burden on retirees and state workers but the Speaker of the House, Gordon Fox, refuses to let him introduce it.The Speaker of the House is the most powerful person in the General Assembly. Nothing gets passed unless the Speaker approves it. Gordon Fox was Speaker when the 2011 lawand the 2015 Settlement Agreement were forced on us. Also powerful is the Chair of the House Finance Committee. Raymond Gallison was Vice Chair in 2011 and Chair in 2015. Fox and Gallison were both attorneys, and both ended up convicted felons. ii Both had felonies contemporaneous with the enactment of the 2011 law. This is what the US attorney had to say about Gordon Fox:

“It is a great irony that the man in Rhode Island once most responsible for securing the passage of laws, somewhere along the way decided he no longer needed to follow them.”

You know the fix is in when Joseph Newton, the state’s own actuary, recommends a more moderate course of action – his recommendation in keeping with a long-standing ruling by the US Supreme Court - but the state instead decides to violate that ruling, breaking its contract

with its retired workers and ruining their financial future.

You know the fix is in when the 2011 law halts the current COLA; dramatically changes its formula; and projects the new COLA won’t be paid out until 2032, when most of the affected retirees will be dead – all of this in conflict with the 2007 Rhode Island Supreme Court ruling that says you cannot change the terms of COLAs for retirees who have

already fulfilled their contracts.

You know the fix is in when nine different groups sue the state, and the state then tries to push through a Settlement Agreement, sending ballots to dead people, declaring that any unreturned ballots count as approving the Settlement Agreement.

You know the fix is in when that Settlement Agreement does not pass and the state comes up with yet another one, changing the previous rules to make sure this one passes.

You know the fix is in when Gina Raimondo, then Governor, persuades the General Assembly to change the law that requires excess revenues to go into the pension fund, and has them go into the general fund instead.

You know the fix is in when the highest judicial official in the state stands in front of you and more than 100 other retirees and says that you definitely have a contract but that the fix is in; the whole thing is political; and there is no way you can win.

So now it is up to you to do the right thing, the only legitimate, legal thing. Advise the General Assembly to comply with the RI Supreme Court’s ruling in Arena vs. Providence and reinstate the 3% compounded COLAs to those who had retired prior to the start-up date of the bogus 2011 law. Anybody can manipulate statistics to make them come out

the way they want them to. But the law is the law; and in spite of what the state managed to pull off in 2011 - and again in 2015 - the law is NOT to be manipulated.

Our particular retiree groups are in the process of pursuing legal action in order to get the General Assembly to follow the law. It is a great irony that the branch of government in Rhode Island responsible for the passage of laws, continues to decide they don’t need to follow them.”

My name is Francesca Pariante Bedell. I am a retired state worker, a RI public school teacher, having taught high school in the Westerly School Department for well over thirty years. I am one of the retirees whose financial life was compromised when the General Assembly changed the law in place for years, both at the time I accepted the job offer in 1973, as well as in 2005 when I retired with the unchanged law in place. The law which was applied by the state to calculate my pension payment projections included a 3°/o compounding COLA applied to the value of my current and future pension earnings. In fact, the Employee Retirement System of Rhode Island agent handed me a table projecting my retirement paychecks into the future. Allow me to repeat, I retired with the state's blessing and with the help of an ERSRI representative who calculated my retirement income and who handed me a hard copy of a table with my future pension projections. The pension earnings chart shows the cost of living yearly adjustment applied to my base pension as defined both at the time of my hiring and with the changes enacted during my tenure. It shows calculations of the 3°/o compounding COLA I would receive for the remainder of my life, a defined pension benefit which was to begin after the third year of my retirement. This ERSRI representative meeting was only a couple of months before my actual retirement date. In fact, I received the contracted cost of living adjustment for in my fourth and fifth year of retirement, until in 2011 the State of Rhode Island usurped my financial well being as well as that of many other affected state retirees, with an action in direct violation of the aforementioned terms of our employment. I am here representing myself and others as a pre-RIRSA Retiree Pensioner. I can tell you most pensioners thought it odd when then State Treasurer, claimed a crisis, and at the same time, invested our state pension money in risky hedge funds, paying them and herself large investment fees for little return, and having already moved the state's pension fund to a capital venture fund, the former state treasurer continues to collect rather large investment fees, currently paid to the former state treasurer despite her departure from RI. Most knew something was amiss when the state's own actuary, Joseph Newton, suggested a more moderate measure to help solve the perceived pension fund shortage but he was turned down when the RI General Assembly instead passed a 2011 law changing the financial future of all state retirees who could neither return to their jobs nor make up for the loss. Most knew it was odd when the 2011 law actually froze the retiree Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), dramatically changing the COLA formula in a shameful violation of the terms of the pension COLA, a defined benefit for retirees who had already fulfilled their contracts and had already retired. We retirees are now informed projections for the new COLA won't be paid until 2032 when many of we PRE-RIRSA retirees will be dead.

Most knew when Spencer Dickinson, a state Representative, introduced a bill to place less of a financial burden on retired state workers, and the then Speaker of the House, dismissed Dickinson's proposal. Most knew something was amiss when nine different groups sue the state for claiming a new Settlement Agreement was approved by counting ballots from the grave and more outrageously, by counting the ballots they'd never received as consenting ballots. Most knew they would be inflicted with even more financial pain when said Settlement Agreement did not pass and the state somehow then magically changed its rule, negatively impacting all state retirees' living standard, by passing a new law that it was unnecessary for all General Assembly members to approve a change. That's right, an agreement impacting the standard of living for as many as 27,000 Rhode Island state retirees and their families was not approved by the entire membership of the General Assembly. Most were aware the General Assembly again changed a law requiring all excess revenues remain in our pension fund and instead redirected our revenues to the general fund. Most knew the fix was in when the highest judicial official in the state meets with more than a hundred retirees claiming we have a contract but the ''fix was in,'' telling us it was political with no way to win, the only one who told the truth and we thank him. Most knew the fix was in when the General Assembly knowing the law had been violated, went along with the ''new'' law essentially usurping our future financial well being, by refusing to pay our already-earned 3°/o compounding COLA as was the implied contract as defined by the RI Supreme Court Justice Julia TaftCarter, on the day we retired. Most knew something continues to be of concern when James Diossa, state Treasurer, suggested a $500 stipend could ever replace the now $30,000 in income adjustments lost every single year for ahttps://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:15cc8624-af21-462d-93f4-…

My name is Francesca Pariante Bedell.

I am a retired state worker, a RI public school teacher, having taught high school in the Westerly School Department for well over thirty years. I am one of the retirees whose financial life was compromised when the General Assembly changed the as well as in 2005 when I retired with the unchanged law in place which was applied by the state to calculate my pension payment projections included a 3% compounding COLA applied to my future pension earnings.

In fact, the Employee Retirement System of Rhode Island agent handed me a table projecting my retirement paychecks into the future. Allow me to repeat, I retired with the state's blessing and with the help of an ERSRI representative who calculated my retirement income and who handed me a hard copy of a table with my future pension projections.

The pension earnings chart showed the cost of living yearly adjustment applied to my base pension as defined both at the time of my hiring and with the changes enacted during my tenure. It shows calculations of the 3% compounding COLA I would receive for the remainder of my life, a defined pension benefit which was to begin after the third year of my retirement.

This ERSRI representative meeting was only a couple of months before my actual retirement date.

In fact, I received the contracted cost of living adjustment for in my fourth and fifth year of retirement, until in 2011 the State of Rhode Island usurped my financial well being as well as that of many other affected state retirees, with an action in direct violation of the aforementioned terms of our employment.

I can tell you most pensioners thought it odd when then State Treasurer, claimed a crisis, and at the same time, invested our state pension money in risky hedge funds, paying them and herself large investment fees for little return, and having already moved the state's pension fund to a capital venture fund, the former state treasurer continues to collect rather large investment fees, currently paid to the former state treasurer despite her departure from RI.

Most knew something was amiss when the state's own actuary, Joseph Newton, suggested a more moderate measure to help solve the perceived pension fund shortage but he was turned down when the RI General Assembly instead passed a 2011 law changing the financial future of all state retirees who could neither return to their jobs nor make up for the loss.

Most knew our purchasing power was deminishing when the 2011 law actually froze the retiree Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), dramatically changing the COLA formula in a shameful violation of the terms of the pension COLA, a defined benefit for retirees who had already fulfilled their contracts and had already retired.

We retirees are now informed projections for the new COLA won't be paid until 2032 when many of we PRE-RIRSA retirees will be dead.

Most knew when Spencer Dickinson, a state Representative, introduced a bill to place less of a financial burden on retired state workers, and the then Speaker of the House, dismissed Dickinson's proposal.

Most knew something was amiss when nine different groups sue the state for claiming a new Settlement Agreement was approved by counting ballots from the grave and more outrageously, by counting the ballots they'd never received as consenting ballots.

Most knew they would be inflicted with even more financial pain when said Settlement Agreement did not pass and the state somehow then magically changed its rule, negatively impacting all state retirees' living standard, by passing a new law that it was unnecessary for all General Assembly members to approve a change. That's right, an agreement impacting the standard of living for as many as 27,000 Rhode Island state retirees and their families was not approved by the entire membership of the General Assembly. Most were aware the General Assembly again changed a law requiring all excess revenues remain in our pension fund and instead redirected our revenues to the general fund.

Most knew the fix was in when the highest judicial official in the state meets with more than a hundred retirees claiming we have a contract but the ''fix was in," telling us it was political with no way to win, the only one who told the truth and we thank him.

Most knew the fix was in when the General Assembly knowing the law had been violated, went along with the ''new'' law essentially usurping our future financial well being, by refusing to pay our already-earned 3% compounding COLA as was the implied contract as defined by the RI Supreme Court Justice Julia Taft-Carter, on the day we retired.

Most knew something continues to be of concern when James~ state Treasurer, suggested a $500 stipend could ever replace the now $30,000 in income adjustments lost every single year for a retiree of my age, and adding to the insult by suggesting the state ''stay the course'' until 2032 when many more of us will be dead.

Most knew something was still amiss in when retirees were testifying in front of the House Finance Committee with the chair not bothering to attend the meeting and other various assembly members were wandering in and out during the retiree' testimony. Most former General Assembly members must have been suspicious when the President of the Retiree Public Employment Council (RIPERC) testified AGAINST the bill that would reinstate the affected pensioners' COLAs, with the laughable and uninformed excuse the bill did not cover teacher retirees while we were simultaneously assured by a sponsor of the bill, both verbally and in writing, that the bill actually did include all state workers, including teachers. One wonders did this Retiree Council member [Roger Boudreau] even bother to ask the question as it would be an absurdity to even hint this man was unaware of RI teacher state pensions after he had attended endless fundraisers with members of the General Assembly. Might this very Council member, Roger Boudreau, have known the answer and knowingly testified falsely to yot1r predecessors? So the question remains, will this former Retirement Council President make up for his blunder with a public statement supporting the the time of that state worker's retirement?

We who worked for the state knew the 3% compounding COLA was in fact being implemented to maintain level buying power annually for our retiring colleagues since 1980.

We were to retire with defined benefits, including the 3% compounding COLA, in place on the date of our retirement because we who worked for the state were witnessing the 3% compounding COLA applied annually to our retired colleagues' pensions since 1980.

We who worked for the state in fact witnessed the 3% compounding COLA being applied each year to retiree pensions since 1980 and we continued working for our own retirement, serving the State of Rhode Island for the twenty-eight or more years preceding 2011.

So now we PRE-RIRSA pensioners grapple with the question as to whether or not you, the members of this study group, will allow the various players to once again lobby for a worthless, watered-down version further eroding our buying power or will you recommend a level financial standard of living as we had already earned on the date of our retirement and were in fact being paid?

Something continues to be amiss when in this very year, 2023, when the current Speaker of the House tells the General Assembly to ignore the law in place at the time of our retirement, and to refuse promoting a bill that would reinstate the earned and defined cost of living adjustments for we pre-2012 pensioners? I can tell you something is still amiss when James Diossa, on orders from the General Assembly, sets up this fiscal advisory group to examine what is being called the ''unintended consequences'' of the 2011 law, but yet, he has not appointed one single retiree to the fiscal advisory group he created.

Submitted via online webform