Editorials
Friday, April 25, 1997THE Legislature appears ready to take a major step to restore public confidence by eliminating pension windfalls for those who go on to state administrative positions. House and Senate conferees agreed on the reform following years of complaints about the "high three" system, which encouraged kowtowing by lawmakers in the hope that the governor or mayor would issue them golden parachutes. ‘High three’ pension
reform is overdueCity and state employees with 10 or more years of service are allowed to retire at age 55 with a pension based on their three highest paying years. Although part-year employees, state legislators have been allowed to do the same and can bolster their pensions hugely by working for three years in an administrative job. A 12-year legislator earning $32,000 a year who then worked for three years as a city or state administrator for $85,000 a year could boost his or her yearly pension from $18,540 to $40,800.
The bill approved by conferees would require that legislative and administrative pensions be figured separately. Legislators now accrue pension benefits at the rate of 3.5 percent of their salary for each year worked, while most other government retirees receive 2 percent. The bill would allow legislators-turned-administrators to apply the higher percentage only to their legislative salaries.
The Hawaii Constitution forbids the Legislature from diminishing "accrued benefits" of city and state employees, but the attorney general determined that did not prevent the bill from applying to current members of the Legislature. Accordingly, the bill would apply to current and future legislators, as well as other city and state elected officials and legislative officers.
The changes would apply to all lawmakers elected in 1998 and beyond. Senators whose terms do not expire until 2000 would also be affected next year. Legislators would continue to qualify for pensions at any age instead of waiting until 55.
Legislative leaders last year backed away from a proposal that was easily identified as bogus reform. This year's Senate and House conferees deserve credit for biting the bullet and acting to end this scandalous pension scheme. However, it has taken much too long. Criticism of this system goes back 20 years but the legislators refused to listen until the public became enraged.
A Navy museum on Ford Island? It's in the new master plan for the island in Pearl Harbor and could expand the naval base's appeal as a visitor attraction. That attraction of course is based on the Arizona Memorial, complemented by the memorial's visitor center, which has some historical displays, and the submarine Bowfin exhibit. The battleship Missouri, scheduled to be towed to Hawaii from Seattle next year, will be a major addition. Ford Island museum
DIOSDADO Macapagal, who died Monday at 86, was the fifth president of the Philippines. Born in a family of modest means in a farming community, he was a champion of agrarian reform, but his program was hampered by lack of funding and landlord opposition. He did succeed in easing foreign exchange and import controls. President Macapagal
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John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
