State Rep. May Whittington says that she will vote to repeal the lawmakers’ retirement package approved by the Legislature near the end of the session.The controversial increase in legislative pension benefits “needs to be put on hold until we can work out pay raises for other state employees and the teachers,” the Schlater Democrat said Wednesday.A six-member conference committee inserted behind closed doors a provision that would give lawmakers double the retirement benefit that teachers and other state employees receive. The cost to taxpayers for the change has been estimated at around $600,000 a year.Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, who allowed the bill to become law without his signature, has called a special session for June 29 to give lawmakers a chance to repeal the perk.A pair of other Greenwood Democratic lawmakers are split on the issue.Rep. Willie Perkins Sr. has said he will vote to keep the perk, while Sen. David Jordan has said he will vote to repeal the pension increase.Sen. Bunky Huggins, R-Greenwood, could not be reached for comment this morning. He said earlier this week that he had not decided how he would vote. Several legislators, including Whittington and Jordan, said they voted for the larger retirement measure without knowing the new lawmaker perk had been added.Whittington said she would like to see the bill amended to strike the additional perk for lawmakers but leave the rest of the provisions intact, such as the one allowing state employees with 28 years or more of service to draw out part of their pension in a lump sum.“The part of the bill that is causing the most problem is one that I didn’t have the opportunity to think about or make a decision on, and it isn’t the right time to do this kind of thing in my opinion,” she said.The issue should have been discussed in open debate, the freshman lawmaker said.“I understand how longtime legislators feel, and they do need to be fully compensated for their efforts because it is a hard job,” she said.Jordan said that he is uncertain whether the bill to repeal the increase will get out of the Senate Finance Committee, of which he is a member.The House also could choose not to address it, he said.
