A government employees' early retirement incentive bill was approved 5-2 Wednesday by the Senate Government Operations Committee. The bill, sponsored by Sens. David Jones, Almando "Rocky" Liburd and Donald "Ducks" Cole, is an amended version of a bill already heard several times, and rejected in a March committee hearing.
At that time, Corrine King, Government Employees Retirement System board chair, rejected the bill on the grounds that the government couldn't guarantee the $15 million the bill proposed to sponsor the program. The money would come from the government's $300 million bond issue.
King, along with Alphonso E. Nibbs, GERS staff attorney, appeared at Wednesday's hearing where she voiced disapproval of the current amendment on the same grounds.
She said in a prepared statement: "The board seeks to avert another legislative incursion into the Retirement fund by way of an unfunded legislative mandate." She added that the GERS has been unable to obtain positive assurances from the bill's sponsors that the $15 million would be forthcoming.
The bill, now known as the Public Employees Voluntary Separation Incentive Act of 2000, allows employees who are members of the GERS with at least 28 but fewer than 30 years of service to leave early and "buy" their remaining time through a system of advance credits by contributing 8 percent of their annuity over the remaining years. Senators changed the eligible time from 25 to 28 years when they discovered there weren't sufficient funds to cover that many employees.
The purpose of the plan is to reduce government payrolls by encouraging employees to leave early without penalties, senators said.
Employees would receive a cash payment upon leaving. Classified employees would receive a payment equal to 30 percent of their gross annual salary, and unclassified employees would receive 15 percent.
The amendment now includes employees from all three branches of government. Earlier it was limited to executive branch employees, which King had then called "unconstitutional."
King said the "risk is too great to go forward at this time, because the GERS hasn't had adequate time to study the latest amendment to the bill." But under questioning, she said the GERS would support an early retirement bill backed up by adequate funding.
Edward Phillips, American Association of Retired Persons state legislative chair, submitted a letter asked the bill be "tabled indefinitely." Phillips said the bill would "endanger the ability of the system to continue to pay annuities to current and future retirees." He said that while the bill proposes to reduce the government work force, AARP fears it would bankrupt the GERS.
Though many executive branch officials had been invited to testify, including Bernice Turnbull, finance commissioner, and government financial advisors Rudolph Krigger and Paulette Rabsatt, none appeared.
The bill was approved by committee Chairman Gregory Bennerson and Sens. Jones, Cole, Adelbert "Bert" Bryan and Allie-Allison Petrus. Sens. Lorraine Berry and Roosevelt David cast the dissenting votes.
The measure will now be forwarded to the Rules Committee and then the full Senate for a vote.

This concert film depicts the 1997 "Kings of Comedy" tour, which grossed over $37 million, during its peak. The live comedy presentation in the movie takes place during two nights of sold out shows at the Charlotte Coliseum in late February .
The Original Kings of Comedy, according to director Spike Lee are: Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer and Bernie Mac – four black comedians whose subject matter often mirrors that of Richard Prior and Eddie Murphy.
According to Desert News movie critic Jeff Vice, "The movie could best be described as extremely inconsistent." "Some of the routines are laugh-at-loud funny, but others are so racially specific that if you're not in the target audience, you may feel uncomfortable."
In the movie, Lee includes plenty of peeks back stage and sweeping takes of the audience. This allows the movie audience to feel more part of the show and as Jon Popick of Movie Zone puts it, "it lets you know which jokes worked and which didn't.
Go See which jokes work for you. The Kings are gettin' it on at Cinema One – Estate Thomas.

What happens when four aging film icons are dropped into the same movie and are expected to blend as smoothly as a banana daiquiri? As one critic puts it, director and star Clint Eastwood not only defuses this potentially chaotic combination, but "redeems a cliché-riddled script that has no business working half as well as it does."
"Space Cowboys" is the playful kind of show you would watch on a Saturday morning over a bowl of Captain Crunch in your fire engine pj's, if you were one-eighth the age of the actors in this flick.
Eastwood plays Col. Frank Corvin, the man who designed the Russian communications satellite called IKON which is now old and defective and on a collision course with earth. Along with Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and James Garner, who play wannabe astronauts who have drifted apart since their glory days as flight-crew team members, Eastwood is called back into service because he is the only one who understands the workings of the ancient piece of equipment.
After Corvin convinces NASA to allow him and his team to fulfill their dreams of traveling into space, NASA green-lights the four oldsters only if they can keep up with the training course – the likes of which would have made even a young Eastwood break a sweat.
Bullies, boo-boos and ageism make up the other half of the teams' trials.
"Space Cowboys" is playing at Market Square East.

Research scientist Sebastian Crane ( Kevin Bacon) works in a top secret military lab where he has made a startling discovery. He can make animals disappear, invisible to the naked eye, by injecting an irradiated serum. There's just one catch; he can't figure out how to make them come back.
His colleagues, including former lover Linda ( Elizabeth Shue) and best friend Matt ( Josh Brolin) want him to reveal his secret to the government. Crane refuses, and tries the serum on himself. Voila, it works! And, as it turns out, only too well in Crane's dangerous hands.
His behavior takes on homicidal overtones as he discovers Linda and Matt are enjoying a romance. Aha, the discoveries of an invisible man.
The movie, up to this point, is said to be a "genuinely creepy nail-biter," but it soon loses steam according to more than one reviewer. Crane can't figure out how to make himself visible again, and for the last hour of the film the audience apparently can't figure out how to leave soon enough.
Nonetheless, the stars are there, even the disembodied Bacon, acting up a storm. It's the script that begs attention. To sit for more than two hours, a movie's got to have plot, and a good one.
It is playing at Market Square East.

Staff at Joseph Sibilly Elementary School will hold their first PTA meeting of the school year 6 p.m. Wednesday Sept. 6 at the school.
According to a release, all parents of kids enrolled at Sibilly and the James Monroe Annex are asked to attend. Membership dues, elections of officers and plans for the new school year will be discussed.
For more information contact Vinnie Mohanani at 714-1909.

Responding to inquiries her office received regarding recent national press accounts about federal legislation which allows teachers serving in low-income or subject shortage areas to have their federal
student loan cancelled; Delegate to Congress Donna Christensen announced that teachers in the territory are also eligible to have up
to 100 percent of their Federal Perkins Loan or up to $5000 of their Federal Stafford Loan or their Federal Family Education Loan (FEEL) cancelled.
"My office received a number of inquires about reports that were made on CNN and other national news networks about the incentives that are being offered nationally to address the severe teacher shortage problem in many mainland jurisdictions," Christensen said. "They wanted to know if Virgin Islands teachers could get their student loans cancelled as mainland teachers can."
According to the U.S. Department of Education, teachers are eligible to
have their Perkins or National Direct Student Loan (NDSL) cancelled if they are (1) teaching full-time in an elementary or secondary school that serves low-income students and who took out a Perkins made on or after July 1, 1987; (2) teaching in an elementary or secondary school system that has a shortage of teachers in a designated subject; or (3) teaching in disabled students in a public or other nonprofit elementary or secondary school.
School systems must send relevant data to the U.S. D.O.E., annually, which determines which schools are eligible.
For more information or to find out whether your school has been designated as serving in a low-income or subject shortage area you should contact the Virgin Islands Department of Education, as well as, your Perkins/NDSL or Federal Stafford Loan promissory note.

Responding to inquiries her office received regarding recent national press accounts about federal legislation which allows teachers serving in low-income or subject shortage areas to have their federal
student loan cancelled; Delegate to Congress Donna Christensen announced that teachers in the territory are also eligible to have up
to 100 percent of their Federal Perkins Loan or up to $5000 of their Federal Stafford Loan or their Federal Family Education Loan (FEEL) cancelled.
"My office received a number of inquires about reports that were made on CNN and other national news networks about the incentives that are being offered nationally to address the severe teacher shortage problem in many mainland jurisdictions," Christensen said. "They wanted to know if Virgin Islands teachers could get their student loans cancelled as mainland teachers can."
According to the U.S. Department of Education, teachers are eligible to
have their Perkins or National Direct Student Loan (NDSL) cancelled if they are (1) teaching full-time in an elementary or secondary school that serves low-income students and who took out a Perkins made on or after July 1, 1987; (2) teaching in an elementary or secondary school system that has a shortage of teachers in a designated subject; or (3) teaching in disabled students in a public or other nonprofit elementary or secondary school.
School systems must send relevant data to the U.S. D.O.E., annually, which determines which schools are eligible.
For more information or to find out whether your school has been designated as serving in a low-income or subject shortage area you should contact the Virgin Islands Department of Education, as well as, your Perkins/NDSL or Federal Stafford Loan promissory note.

Imhotep Morgan, a sociology senior at the University of Kentucky from Frederiksted, participated in the 2000 Student Leadership Initiative at the university recently.
The program is geared toward establishing a collaborative network between a select group of student leaders, administrators and faculty in an effort to identify and address key campus issues and student concerns.
"Student leadership is an essential part of the University of
Kentucky community," said Elisabeth Zinser, chancellor of UK's Lexington Campus. "Leadership in and for such a community is the best preparation for leadership in life after college for those who truly want to make a difference and have fun doing it."
Morgan was a member of the U.S. Marine Corps from 1995 to 1999. He is active with the UK Office of Minority Affairs.
The initiative included an intensive two-day retreat in early August at the Kentucky Leadership Retreat Center. At the retreat, the students met with several university officials, including the vice chancellors for Student and Minority Affairs, the Lexington Campus chancellor, the Faculty Senate chairperson and various administrative staff members from student service areas. Follow-up sessions on campus throughout the academic year help support and develop the students in their leadership roles.
"The primary goal of the Student Leadership Initiative is to empower students to become positive change agents in the campus community and beyond," said Elizabeth Bates, assistant director of Student Activities at the university and coordinator of the initiative.
The program, coordinated by the Student Activities Board, is
supported by the Division of Student Affairs.

The territory's economic development program is broken and needs major repairs.
That was the consensus of testifiers at Wednesday night's legislative hearing on a bill to revamp economic development initiatives in the territory.
While only four persons testified, their presentations suggested that the measure, now the subject of territory-wide public hearings, is not the means by which to bring about reform.
The bill, sponsored by Sens. Donald Cole, David Jones and Anne Golden, seeks to consolidate several government agencies — including the Industrial Development Commission, the industrial park, Government Development Bank, the Bureau of Economic Research, Film Promotion office and the Small Business Development Agency — into a single Economic Development Authority.
But St. Thomas businessman Alex Randall blasted the legislation as being too complex and "not designed to attract business to the territory." He said it fails to factor in the advantages that could be realized by engaging in e-commerce and information technology.
Attorney George Dudley, co-chairman and co-chief executive officer of Lockhart Caribbean Corp., praised lawmakers for attempting to stimulate economic growth in the V.I. but blamed years of "governmental neglect and mismanagement" for the inability to capitalize on the economic potential of the Virgin Islands. Dudley noted that the U.S. economy and that of Puerto Rico continue to blossom while the V.I. falls further behind.
Another testifier, Sen. Adelbert "Bert" Bryan's Chief of Staff Hortense Rowe, unveiled the senator's proposal to "reorganize the economic development structure." She said Bryan envisions the establishment of a "Virgin Islands Economic Development and Commerce Corp."
Attorney David Bornn urged lawmakers to resist the urge to "tinker with the territory's economic development policy." He said potential investors look for stability in the policy before deciding to bring their business to the territory. "Frankly, we are in no position to scare away potential investors," he added.
At the end of the meeting, the bill's sponsors described the measure as a work in progress and said several amendments will be tacked on before it moves toward a final vote.

The territory's economic development program is broken and needs major repairs.
That was the consensus of testifiers at Wednesday night's legislative hearing on a bill to revamp economic development initiatives in the territory.
While only four persons testified, their presentations suggested that the measure, now the subject of territory-wide public hearings, is not the means by which to bring about reform.
The bill, sponsored by Sens. Donald Cole, David Jones and Anne Golden, seeks to consolidate several government agencies — including the Industrial Development Commission, the industrial park, Government Development Bank, the Bureau of Economic Research, Film Promotion office and the Small Business Development Agency — into a single Economic Development Authority.
But St. Thomas businessman Alex Randall blasted the legislation as being too complex and "not designed to attract business to the territory." He said it fails to factor in the advantages that could be realized by engaging in e-commerce and information technology.
Attorney George Dudley, co-chairman and co-chief executive officer of Lockhart Caribbean Corp., praised lawmakers for attempting to stimulate economic growth in the V.I. but blamed years of "governmental neglect and mismanagement" for the inability to capitalize on the economic potential of the Virgin Islands. Dudley noted that the U.S. economy and that of Puerto Rico continue to blossom while the V.I. falls further behind.
Another testifier, Sen. Adelbert "Bert" Bryan's Chief of Staff Hortense Rowe, unveiled the senator's proposal to "reorganize the economic development structure." She said Bryan envisions the establishment of a "Virgin Islands Economic Development and Commerce Corp."
Michael Bornn urged lawmakers to resist the urge to "tinker with the territory's economic development policy." He said potential investors look for stability in the policy before deciding to bring their business to the territory. "Frankly, we are in no position to scare away potential investors," he added.
At the end of the meeting, the bill's sponsors described the measure as a work in progress and said several amendments will be tacked on before it moves toward a final vote.