As Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli continue their crackdowns on alleged abuses of the state pension system, lawmakers are starting to take action with proposed legislation.

The bills come in the wake of recent media reports of school lawyers and other educational administrators accruing benefits from the state pension system they may not have been entitled to.

For example, two Long Island lawmakers — Assemblyman Robert Sweeney, D-Lindenhurst, and Sen. Owen Johnson, R-West Babylon — are offering a bill that would prevent double dipping. Under the proposal, some retired public employees’ pensions would be suspended if they return to a similar job and if their pensions are similar to their new salaries.

The bill is working its way through the Senate and Assembly.

While the bill was submitted earlier this session, it gained some prominence this week after Newsday published a story about a Long Island school superintendent who retired in 2006 with a $316,000 pension, the largest in the state. He then returned to work running another school system for an additional $200,000 — generating a $500,000 income.

Not everyone agrees double dipping should be disallowed.

“It’s not really that common for superintendents to retire and then collect a pension and then become a permanent superintendent,” said Bob Lowry, deputy director at the New York State Council of School Superintendents, an advocacy and research group for the state’s public school chiefs.

More common, Lowry said, is the practice of retired superintendents returning to work until a permanent school leader is found.

Lowry also said schools could save money by hiring retirees since districts don’t have to make more pension contributions. Retirees’ health care is also often covered by prior employers.

The public’s awareness of pension abuse was raised in recent months with revelations lawyers on Long Island and upstate have been listed as school district employees and also of the Johnstown-based Hamilton Fulton Montgomery BOCES organizations. Cuomo and DiNapoli say the lawyers are independent contractors and not eligible for pension credits.

The arrangement has also sparked legislation by Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg, D-Long Beach, and Sen. Dean Skelos, R-Rockville Centre, to prohibit BOCES contractors from being compensated as employees.

Source: Times Union