LIA on board to back state pension reform

The Long Island Association has joined major business groups in the state in urging Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to support Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's pension reform proposals.

"We cannot afford to continue the past practice of taxing businesses out of the state," said a letter signed by LIA president Kevin Law, Heather Briccetti, president of the Business Council of New York State, and 10 other business leaders. "Over the years, New York's businesses have put more and more money into the pension system to the point where local companies are almost subsidizing pension benefits," the letter said.

The business leaders are supporting the proposed Tier VI pension plan requiring future state employees to pick a defined benefit plan that would require greater employee contributions, or a plan similar to a 401(k). Cuomo said his plan would save taxpayers more than $100 billion over 30 years.

Law said the letter to the legislative leaders is the latest step he and other business leaders have taken toward influencing public policy. But Roger Clayman, executive director of the Long Island Federation of Labor, called Tier VI "misguided" and said if the proposals became law they would "rob the pension plan of funding for active employees."