Prosecutors, human rights activists ask for higher pensions to help with recruitment and retention – InkFreeNews.com

Leslie Bonilla Muñiz
Indiana Metropolitan Chronicle

INDIANA — More powerful prosecutors and public defenders have suggested that lawmakers increase pensions to speed up recruitment and retention amid a shortage of attorneys in the state.

The interim committee also hinted that the recently approved long-term retirement bonus plan, in which some retirees receive 13th checks and others receive cost-of-living adjustments, is anything but set in stone.

Indiana State Attorney’s Council member Chris Daniels said prosecutors across the state are “so overwhelmed” they “can’t handle” the volume of cases.

Daniels said prosecutors have difficulty retaining their deputies due to low pay, unlimited caseloads and “emotionally difficult and stressful” topics.

Experienced prosecutors often leave government service for higher-paying jobs in the private sector or to become judges, he said. Elected prosecutors, chief deputies and others retire after eight years and receive another benefit increase after 12 years; Daniels said he has little incentive to stay longer.

He asked lawmakers to offer Prosecutors’ Pension Fund members a COLA comparable to what judges receive.

“At every point in the code, the benefits afforded to judges are identical to the benefits afforded to prosecutors,” Daniels said. “However, we see a significant difference in the pension plan.”

Judges on average earn nearly $76,000 a year in retirement benefits, according to his presentation. Prosecutors earn just $28,000 a year on average, with COLA being a “key” factor influencing the situation.

Daniels, who is the board’s senior traffic safety attorney, also pushed for several changes proposed in the failed 2022 legislation.

That’s where Court Appointed Counsel Commissioner Andrew Cullen has focused his efforts.

He asked lawmakers to allow chief public defenders and heads of public defender agencies to join PARF. This will include only directors and deputy directors who are not in private practice and are paid in accordance with the commission’s standards.

This would increase the fund by about 50 people, according to the latest financial analysis done for House Bill 1605 of 2022. The retroactive move would have cost about $5 million.

“We have not had a situation where people were released from prison due to the lack of a public defender. We haven’t had a situation where we didn’t have a public defender that could be appointed on a regular basis,” Cullen said. “But we’re starting to see that become more and more a reality relative to the serious lawyer crisis.”

“What we continue to think is really important for our side of the equation is simply allowing full-time chief public defenders to participate in the PARF pension plan,” he added.

Cullen noted that this interim panel, the Pension Administration Oversight Committee, approved the change in 2022. The bill passed the original House by a vote of 94-1 and passed the Senate pension committee, according to the action sheet. But the Senate Appropriations Committee, which deals with finance, never heard the bill, dooming it to failure.

Possible changes in the long term

The interim committee also considered seven bills, including two by Rep. Jeff Thompson, R-Lizton, that would change the recently approved benefit plan.

House Bill 1004, passed last session, established a hybrid mechanism offering annual 13th checks to government employees who retired before July 1, 2025. Those who retired after this date will receive a 1% COLA.

Thompson described a troubling “cliff” in which Hoosiers making the same salary retire within a month of each other and accrue vastly different benefits when they retire 20 years later. This is because the 13th check is a lump sum payment and the COLA accumulates over time. He estimated the difference to be “several thousand dollars.”

“So I asked, ‘Is there a way to avoid this cliff?’ At least I think so,” he said.

One project will replace the 13th check for a fixed amount: $4 per year of service. It will be capped at $120 or 30 years of service per year.

Another proposal proposes two formulas: $3 per year of service, or 0.75% of a retiree’s annual pension benefit, including post-retirement bonuses. The pensioner will receive the greater of the two options.

“Most models will do this: employees with the lowest pension benefits will receive a higher percentage increase, but likely less money. And those with more benefits will get a larger dollar increase, but a smaller percentage,” Thompson said. “…When you do that, you avoid that cliff.”

Thompson said that although he had developed numerous models for his idea, he did not plan to submit his designs to the upcoming budget session. He publicly encouraged others to embrace the idea and “make it happen” instead.

“I have enough going on right now that I don’t need to do everything,” Thompson told the Capital Chronicle by way of explanation. As Chairman of the Budget Chamber, he is the chief architect of his chamber’s budget.

Groups of government retirees and employees were concerned.

Retired Indiana State Employees Association leader Jessica Love pushed lawmakers to pursue the hybrid plan, noting that it requires an implementation date and budget approval, although the money needed is kept in additional reserve accounts.

Gail Zeeralis, director of government relations for the Indiana State Teachers Association, said lawmakers “need to be very careful” but called for “trying to find a balance” between checks and COLAs.

She proposed a “catch-up” provision that resets retirees’ base amounts as another way to avoid the discrepancy Thompson described.

Other bills would adjust oversight of public employers with expired pension plans and make changes to the 1977 Police and Firefighters Retirement Fund.