Good for Moore and Hoyle

Anglico — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:29:48 -0500

The "user friendliness" of the current General Assembly website makes it darn near impossible for a citizen to know what happened to this bill, who made what changes, etc. I hope you'll stay on top of this.

Do you have any specific reason to believe that Rand was behind this legislative smokescreen?

Public pensions now private

bkrueger — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:15:39 -0500

The state treasurer’s office is no longer making public the pensions of state retirees, citing a prohibition in a 2007 law that had been originally intended to give the public more access to the pay and perks of public officials.

Senate Bill 1546 was initially intended to make bonuses, incentives and other compensation public, reports Dan Kane.

State Sen. David Hoyle, a Gaston County Democrat, filed the legislation after the Carolinas Healthcare System denied that information to The Charlotte Observer. But as the bill moved its way through the Senate, changes were made to limit other information that had previously been public, including pensions.

It’s unclear who added the provision that now prevents the treasurer from disclosing how much taxpayers are paying for a state employee’s pension.

Sara Lang, a spokeswoman for State Treasurer Richard Moore, said no one there requested the change.

“We didn’t ask for this,” she said. “This is the legislation that was passed, and then the Attorney General’s office interpreted it for us, and we’re following the law.”

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Good for Moore and Hoyle

Public pensions now private