Committee hears multiple retirement bills: COLAs, benefit calculations, part-time limits and data fixes
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Summary
The House committee heard several measures affecting New Hampshire retirees, including a proposed supplemental COLA for long-retired public safety members (HB 11-70), technical changes to benefit calculations (HB 14-71), remedies for retirees penalized over part-time hours (HB 14-39 and HB 14-59), an exception to the 28-day waiting period for concurrent part-time work (HB 10-14), and other administrative proposals. The committee requested multiple fiscal notes and asked the New Hampshire Retirement System for follow-up.
On Jan. 14 the Executive Departments and Administration Committee heard a slate of retirement-related bills that ranged from cost-of-living stipends to technical clarifications of pension formulas and administrative fixes for retirees.
Supplemental COLA (HB 11-70): Arthur Beaudry, president of the New Hampshire State Permanent Firefighters Retirement Association and a former NHRS trustee, spoke in favor of HB 11-70, which would provide supplemental stipends to long-retired members funded by the state general fund. Beaudry told the committee that CPI-U increases over decades have eroded retirees' buying power and that group 2 public safety retirees were particularly affected. "Granting a reasonable COLA to group 2 retirees will greatly reduce the impact inflation has incurred on them over the last 20 years," Beaudry said. After testimony the committee voted to request a fiscal note.
Benefit formula cleanup (HB 14-71): Representative Charlie Foote described HB 14-71 as a housekeeping bill to align average final compensation calculations with the formula adopted last year; opponents, including Representative Dan McGuire, warned that removing certain language could increase "spiking" and have large fiscal consequences. NHRS staff said they could administer the bill and indicated they had prepared a fiscal analysis; the committee requested another fiscal note to confirm impacts.
Part-time hours and penalties (HB 14-39 and HB 14-59): Several retirees recounted cases where a change of employer or a grandfathering clause reduced allowable part-time hours and, in some cases, triggered large repayment demands. Karen Jones described being assessed a penalty that would require repaying roughly $11,000 after earning about $3,600 due to reported excess hours and inconsistent communication from agencies. Representatives proposed amendments to limit penalties or allow the retirement board discretion to consider circumstances; members asked NHRS for data on how many retirees have been affected.
28-day waiting-period exception (HB 10-14): Representative Peter Petrino introduced a narrowly focused exception that would exempt applicants from the 28-day waiting period if they were already concurrently employed part time with a different employer, citing a constituent who feared losing a long-held part-time job during the mandatory leave. Members raised potential federal tax/IRS implications and asked staff to research those constraints.
Administrative and outreach measures: Representative Heath Howard introduced HB 15-27, which would require an annual digital benefits reminder for state employees to increase use of services like retirement matching and mental health checkups. The committee discussed whether agencies already offer similar notices and whether the governor's office or Departments of Administrative Services should pursue non-legislative options.
Next steps: For several measures the committee requested fiscal notes or follow-up information from NHRS (including the fiscal impacts of proposed COLAs and the scope of part-time penalties) and asked staff to check federal constraints tied to the 28-day rule. Witnesses and members urged clearer communication to retirees and better HR onboarding practices to prevent inadvertent violations.
