KTRV Fox 12 House votes to ban pension deals for Idaho workers
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Associated Press - March 11, 2010 3:54 PM ET
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - The Idaho House voted 64-0 to ban sweetheart pension deals like the one Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter's administration gave an outgoing employee in 2009.
The measure, which now goes to the Senate, would forbid deals like the one that sent Division of Human Resources chief Judie Wright into early retirement with an extra $72,781 in her Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho fund.
The state already forbids severance; such pension packages remain legal.
Rep. Anne Pasley-Stuart, a Boise Democrat, called Wright's payments - and others like them that cost Idaho taxpayers a combined $125,000 last year - an outrage for state workers who are now taking furloughs, or worse, losing their jobs.
Even though Otter approved Wright's pension payments, his budget chief, Wayne Hammon, says the Republican now backs ending the practice.
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