PEBP: legislature rejects SAGE proposals

According to the story posted this evening on the RGJ website about salary cuts/furloughs for state workers (on which more shortly, when we get some sense if and how the legislature intends this to be squared with the NSHE code), there is also apparently a deal in the offing on the PEBP budget. Its hard at this point to know the details since, it appears, the negotiations are still going on this evening, but it does appear that most of Gibbon's SAGE-inspired proposals have been rejected and that the original budget drawn up by the PEBP Board (which still cuts about $55 million per year from our health benefits) has been adopted instead.

According to the RGJ,

state workers will see a slight decrease in the subsidy and an increase in deductibles. Those who retire after June 30, 2010 will have to work 15 years instead of 5 years to be eligible for benefits.

The Nevada Appeal is reporting the same.

Update: On the down side, the increase in years of service necessary to qualify for retirement benefits is something that we fear could make it harder for us to recruit mid-career faculty from other institutions. (The Boyd School of Law in particular built its excellent reputation largely through this strategy). People who come here for the final, say, 10 years of their career will not be able to qualify for retirement health benefits. The NFA is going to try to get this relatively small budget item reconsidered in the legislature or by the PEBP Board.