For your consideration, the lead item from my “Albany Insider” column today. (this is the full version, some of which did not run in the paper):
Gov. Cuomo’s budget team pushed the state teachers retirement system into scrapping a critical review of his pension reform plan, the Daily News has learned.
A formal fiscal analysis sent to Cuomo’s budget office on Jan. 31 by the organization that administers the pension system for teachers and school administrators included a section slugged “legal concerns.”
It raised constitutionality questions about Cuomo’s plan to hike employee contribution rates.
Two days later, after a call from Cuomo aides, a revised fiscal note was sent–without the legal concern.
“It’s outrageous,” said one source who accused Cuomo aides of “sanitizing” the document.
Teachers retirement system spokesman John Cardillo confirmed the change was made at Team Cuomo’s request, but wouldn’t say why.
Included in the actual bills, fiscal notes are meant to help lawmakers by highlighting the financial impact of individual pieces of legislation.
Cuomo budget spokesman Morris Peters argued they should be “straight actuarial endeavors.” Including legal concerns in a fiscal note “is unprecedented in our memory,” he said.
“We informed them of their mistake and they rightfully removed it,” Peters said.
Cardillo called it “uncommon, but not unprecedented” that the budget division would ask for changes. He couldn’t cite a previous example.
In a Feb. 3 memo to the teacher retirement system board, actuary Richard Young and general counsel Wayne Schneider said they agreed to remove the legal concern because it “does not impact the overall cost
of the fiscal note.”
