The Public Employee Retirement Commission (PERC) was created by an act of the General Assembly, and, based on its summary of pension legislation, has two main responsibilities: “One is to review legislation affecting public employee retirement systems. The other is to study, on a continuing basis, public employee retirement system policy as implemented at both the Commonwealth and local government levels, the interrelationships of the systems, and the actuarial soundness and costs of the systems”.
The appropriation for PERC was line-item vetoed in its entirety when the Governor approved the general fund budget on December 29th. In February it was announced that the process to close PERC had begun and that its functions would be moved elsewhere.
But since the Commission was created by a statute, could the Governor just act to shut down the Commission without a piece of legislation? That’s what many were wondering.
Following a lawsuit by two state representatives, an agreement to allow PERC to continue to operate until the court case has been heard has been signed on to by the litigants, the administration, and the Attorney General. But without an appropriation, what does the Commission operate on? The signed agreement says that there are positions within the Commission that will be “…in the Office of the Budget’s complement for payment of salary and benefit purposes” but since there is no appropriation it seems like it runs into the Article III, Section 24 issue–how can money that is not appropriated be spent out of the Treasury?
