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5/7/2019
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Senate passes Ruggerio legislation to bring more transparency to pension plan systems
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 STATE HOUSE — The Senate today passed legislation introduced by Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio (D-Dist. 4, North Providence, Providence) that would bring further transparency to the St. Joseph's Health Services pension plan.
The legislation (2019-S 0431Aaa), which President Ruggerio developed with General Treasurer Seth Magaziner, would require all pension plans with at least 200 members not covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, to submit to the same public scrutiny, including public reporting of all its liabilities and assets.
“The beneficiaries of this pension plan deserve the same level of transparency as other pension plans, said President Ruggerio. “This legislation affords them an opportunity to level the playing field by bringing much-needed transparency to the pension plan process.”
Last year, a law introduced by President Ruggerio helped members of the insolvent pension plan to reach settlements in their multiple class-action lawsuits by better positioning members to reach fair, equitable settlements with the multiple defendants of the lawsuits.
The $85 million St. Joseph pension plan covers about 2,700 current and former employees of Our Lady of Fatima and Roger Williams hospitals, but was left insolvent when contributions to it ceased following the sale of Fatima and Roger Williams to Prospect Medical Holdings in 2014.
The measure now moves to the House of Representatives, where the House Judiciary Committee passed similar legislation (2019-H 5287A) introduced by House Majority Leader K. Joseph Shekarchi (D-Dist. 23, Warwick).
For more information, contact:
Daniel Trafford, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401)222-1922
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