MSCA Testifies in Support of Pension Bill

MSCA President CJ O’Donnell has submitted written testimony to the Joint Committee on Public Service in support of House Bill 2808 and Senate Bill 1669, An Act relative to providing a COVID-19 retirement credit to essential public-sector workers. See President O’Donnell’s written testimony here.

The bill would grant to essential workers who continued to report to a worksite outside of their personal residence during the COVID-19 emergency up to three years of age, creditable service, or a combination thereof. This is not an early retirement bill. The extra years would be available to you for the rest of your career.

Faculty and librarians who reported to campus would be covered by this bill. An employee would need to be in the Massachusetts State Employee Retirement System, the bill currently does not address faculty in the Optional retirement Program.

During the hearing on July 21, 2021, legislators raised cost and implementation questions. The cost would need to be researched and clarifying questions around eligibility would need to be answered, but the bill first needs to be reported out favorably from the Joint Committee on Public Service.

If you are interested in helping advocate for the bill, you should contact your state representative and state senator and ask them to contact the committee chairs to urge that the bill be reported out favorably.