Sununu Takes Credit For $26M For Group 2 Retirement, But Dems Say It Was Their Bill

by Nancy West, InDepth NH

CONCORD, NH — Republican Gov. Chris Sununu issued a news release Tuesday taking credit for authorizing the transfer of $26 million to the New Hampshire Retirement System for the Group II Retirement Plan, but Democrats quickly responded they sponsored the legislation that made it happen.

Sununu said: “New Hampshire made a commitment to our police officers, firefighters, and corrections officers to fix the retirement system benefit gap to ensure New Hampshire can attract new individuals to these fields.”

House Democratic Leader Matt Wilhelm of Manchester countered: “The gap in benefits for our first responders was created by Republicans in 2011 and they refused to fix it for over a decade, causing our communities’ hardworking police and firefighters to be stripped of their hard-earned retirement benefits.

“For years, House Democrats have fought to make whole this class of public safety professionals, which is why I am pleased to see Rep. Peter Leishman’s, D-Peterborough, bill finally be signed into law,” Wilhelm said.

Sununu signed HB 1647, relative to the calculation of Group II retirement benefits in the retirement system, on July 19, 2024.

New Hampshire ranks as the #1 state in the country for Public Safety. Today’s one-time transfer of $26 million from General Funds closes the gap, Sununu said.

NOTE: A FAQ document from the New Hampshire Retirement System on Group II can be found here.

This article first appeared on InDepthNH.org and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.