Public-safety group 2 pension changes draw warnings from fire, corrections and police representatives

Representatives of the state’s public-safety personnel told the Finance - Division I committee that retirement changes enacted after 2011 have contributed to recruitment and retention problems for police, firefighters and corrections staff. Witnesses urged lawmakers to restore benefits for Group 2 (tier B) members, saying the changes have prompted experienced personnel to leave early and forced remaining staff into mandatory overtime.

"When we reported the crime, the state police told us to get a restraining order... the judge said, 'I'm sorry. I can't do this for you,'... because of the way the law is written," said Tracy Searls earlier in the meeting when addressing a different bill; public-safety witnesses made similar direct appeals about personnel and safety in their testimony later. The committee heard repeated accounts of chronic mandatory overtime, staffing vacancies and the operational impact of experienced staff leaving before retirement eligibility.

Why it matters: Public-safety agencies rely on experienced personnel to staff shifts and train newer employees. Witnesses said the cumulative effect of multiple benefit changes in 2011 reduced career-value incentives and created a spike in departures; smaller applicant pools are compounded by a statewide shortage of young applicants. Corrections, police and fire officials described long overtime cycles, forced shift coverage and an erosion of institutional knowledge when senior staff leave.

What witnesses said: - Brian Rill, representing professional firefighters, said Group 2 members lost multiple benefits and that “members across public safety in tier A and tier C currently have the benefits they were promised upon hire” while Group 2 did not. He urged fixes to prevent further departures and to restore confidence in promises made at hire. - A representative of the Department of Corrections described a 45% vacancy rate in corrections staffing, and said forced 8-hour overtime shifts are routine when staffing is short. That witness urged restoration for members near retirement to avoid National Guard deployments and loss of institutional capability. - Troopers Association president Frank Campo recounted a trooper who left after the 2011 changes despite a lifelong commitment to the profession, and said the department has seen many talented staff depart. - Nashua Police sergeant John Soneli said the department is now seeing officers leave for other states and that the candidate pool for entry-level testing has dropped significantly since the 2011 changes.

Committee and technical response: Retirement-system staff and a deputy counsel attended and provided technical explanations of how the proposed statutory language would unwind parts of the 2011 adjustments over a multi-year transition. The retirement staff emphasized that actuarial assumptions and the passage of time change the fiscal profile: delayed action increases long-term cost estimates because the fund loses expected investment earnings the statute would have generated.

Next steps: Committee members asked for clarifications of fiscal estimates, the definition of vesting, and how special-duty pay rules (often referred to in testimony as limits on overtime-inclusive pension calculations) are handled in each bill version. Several members emphasized balancing fiscal constraints against immediate public-safety staffing needs.

Provenance (transcript excerpts): - Testimony excerpt (firefighters): "...we truly believe ... if the state makes good on that promise, ... this is going to be the best form of advertisement to change that narrative at that firehouse kitchen table." (Brian Rill; transcript block_id: "11928.524"). - Corrections testimony: "We are at 45 plus percent vacancy ... forced overtime ... 8 hours ... This is exhausting." (Department of Corrections representative; transcript block_id: "13373.83").

Speakers (whitelist): - Brian Rill — President, professional firefighters in New Hampshire (representative of firefighter members; affiliation: nonprofit/union). First reference: 11928.524. - Saif (Department of Corrections representative) — DOC chief/probation official (citizen/agency witness). First reference: 13328.931. - Frank Campo — President, Troopers Association (union representative). First reference: 14325.605. - John Soneli — Sergeant, Nashua Police Department (law enforcement witness). First reference: 14538.5205. - Mark Cavanaugh — Deputy counsel, NH Retirement System (agency counsel providing technical detail). First reference: 17477.47.

Clarifying details extracted: - Vacancy and overtime: DOC witness reported a 45% vacancy at the department (approximate; DOC testimony), with routine forced 8-hour overtime assignments when shifts are understaffed. - Recruitment metrics: State Fire Academy candidate numbers declined from about 500–600 annual applicants pre-2011 to roughly 200 per year in recent cycles (as cited by the Fire Academy/recruiting staff during testimony).

Community relevance: The testimony connects directly to municipal public-safety staffing, emergency response readiness, correctional system operations and local budgets.

Searchable tags: [pensions, group2, public_safety, retirement, recruitment, overtime, corrections]

Salience: overall 0.85 — high local public-safety importance. Impactfulness 0.80 — staffing and pension changes affect operations and budgets over the long term.