Massachusetts Houses Passes Early Retirement Incentive Program

Framingham State Rep. Chris Walsh joined his colleagues in the House of Representatives on Wednesday to pass legislation that creates an early retirement incentive program for Group 1 employees in the Office of Governor and Executive Branch.

The program is anticipated to achieve $172.9 million in net savings.

The program was originally proposed as part of Governor Baker’s FY16 budget and was taken up separately so that associated savings can be included in the House’s budget, which will be released next month.

“The early retirement incentive program serves as an important step towards a budget solution for fiscal year 2016,” said Walsh, a Democrat and one of three state representatives in Framingham.

“This retirement incentive program is a means of improving government efficiency by bringing the cost of the government payroll down. This savings will help to protect the programs we care about,” said Walsh.

The legislation contains numerous provisions that will help ensure the projected savings are realized including a cap on backfilling positions. Spending for backfilled positions is limited to 20 percent of the annualized compensation that would have been paid out over the next two fiscal years for that role.

Eligible employees must apply for the early retirement incentive program no later than July 15, 2015, with an official retirement date of July 31, 2015.

The bill now moves to the Senate for its consideration.