The House has met the Senate position on cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) for retired special risk employees, including state firefighters, law enforcement and corrections officers, a top priority of retiring Sen. Ed Hooper, the upper chamber’s chief budget negotiator.
The Senate had proposed a 1.5% COLA for such employees beginning five years after their retirement. It’s seen as a key recruitment and retention issue for public safety-related state positions.
The increases to retirement payments, if finalized, will begin July 1 and take effect each July 1 thereafter. To be eligible, special risk classified employees would have to have completed at least six years of service if enrolled in the Florida Retirement System prior to July 1, 2011, or eight years otherwise.
Lawmakers have previously worked to add back the COLA adjustments, but had failed.
The Senate had called for $15 million in funding to cover the retirement pay increases, but the House had not. In its latest bump offer, the House has now met the Senate position, signaling the COLAs will go through.
Speaking during a press conference Friday, Hooper said it gave him comfort that the issue was now in agreement between chambers, but noted that nothing will truly be finalized until possibly next week.
“The water is boiling; we’ll put the vegetables in shortly,” he said in his token southern accent and folksy language.
