The UAH College Republicans will be holding its first meeting of the year on Thursday, March 4 at UAH in Room 131 of the University Center. The meeting will run from 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM. Madison City Council President and State Senate district 2 candidate Bill Holtzclaw will be the speaker. All Republican (and those who want to find out more about the Republican

party) UAH students are invited to attend.

Tuesday, March 2 dawned with snow… fluffy chunks of what Les Phillip calls “Goreflakes”.  

The Republican Women of Huntsville held a gubernatorial forum at the Ledges, which is a beautiful place any day, but it was spectacularly beautiful in the snow.  Tim James on his Facebook said “the snow up in the hills was absolutely breathtaking”.

The forum was moderated by WBHP’s Will Anderson, who did a fine job of asking questions and pressing for answers.  I got to meet Will in person after the event – he recognized my name but couldn’t place it – I mentioned that I’d called his show once before and that we’d talked about Obama’s looming defense and NASA cuts (which have since happened).  I was impressed that Will recalled the conversation.  We also talked about Brian’s social skills (”wounded rat”) and Will’s compliments to Brian’s posts (calling Flashpoint the “Heritage Foundation of Alabama”).

The forum agenda called for each of the five candidates attending (Robert Bentley, Bradley Byrne, Kay Ivey, Tim James, and Bill Johnson) to give a short opening speech, followed by three questions each, and ending with closing remarks.  Here are some snippets:

Kay Ivey – “it’s women who manage money”
Bradley Byrne – “the #1 issue is not bingo, it’s putting our people back to work”
Bill Johnson – asked about education said “not everyone will go to college” and proposed improving technical and trade education
Bradley Byrne – asked about education said “we shouldn’t let the Vice-Chair of the Democratic Party (AEA’s Paul Hubbert) rob our children of their future”
Robert Bentley – asked about health care said “form Health Insurance Exchange” and ’scholarships for medical students with committments to practice in underserved areas’
Kay Ivey – asked about her greatest single skill said “leadership standing on principle” and mentioned that she’s been vilified for PACT but that “Governors don’t get to choose crises”
Tim James – about PACT said “the problem is we lost balance” and that trust fund money should be more carefully invested
Bill Johnson – “always votes against taxes” because “it’s personal”
Tim James – “I’m a businessman” who’s “created private sector jobs”
Robert Bentley – “the State is in pain and you need a Doctor”

Thanks to the Republican Women of Huntsville for a great event – there were more than 250 people there – what a turnout!  I think the GOP is going to have a good year…

The Huntsville Governors Forum will be held Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at the Davidson Center.  The forum will start at 6:15PM and the public is invited.

The Huntsville Times wrote “Six of seven Republican candidates for Alabama governor to appear at forum”:

The forum will be moderated by a panel including retired Lt. Gen. Jim Link, former commanding general of Redstone Arsenal and former president of Teledyne Brown Engineering; Gary Palmer, president of the Alabama Policy Institute; and former Huntsville Mayor Loretta Spencer.

“Huntsville and North Alabama have not always been at the ‘epicenter of attention’ for candidates for political office, but I believe the scope and size of the Huntsville Governors Forum shows that we are gaining influence in the state’s political process,” said Clinton Carter, chair of the Madison County Young Republicans and the forum’s chair. “We feel that the forum will provide a great opportunity for voters to hear directly from the Republican candidates for governor, including where they stand on a variety of issues that are important to Huntsvillians.”

The forum will commence with the Presentation of the Colors by Butler High School’s Air Force ROTC Color Guard, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and Invocation.

Each panelist will ask two questions – each candidate will have 90 seconds to respond to each question (which is a long time in forum time).  We’ve scheduled an hour for all three panelists to ask  their two questions and get responses from the six candidates (remember – 90 second answers).

We’ve scheduled 15 minutes for a ten question “Lightning Round”.  Each candidate gets 30 seconds to respond to these questions ranging from Free the Hops Brewery Modernization to charter schools to improving trade and technical schools, along with the obligatory gambling question.  We’ve tried to come up with some questions that are different from those asked at other venues…

We’ve also scheduled 15 minutes for a potentially exciting “Round Robin”, where each candidate gets to directly ask one other candidate a question.

Even though the Forum is competing with NCIS, we expect to have a fine turnout and we’d love to see YOU there!

Thanks to The Huntsville Times for writing about the Huntsville Governors Forum – I think that the event will generate some news content for you…

Dale Jackson’s WVNN candidate get together at Mason’s last Friday was a success – about 250 people and 20 officials and candidates attended.  Mason’s bartenders and servers looked great in their Free the Hops t-shirts – thank you to Scott and Michael for your support.  For an example of the types of discussions one might have with elected officials and candidates, I spoke with:

- Senate 9 GOP candidate Don Spurlin about Alabama’s residential building codes, licensing, and inspection – we both support adoption of a State-wide system (so does the Builder’s Association) rather than the current hodge-podge which potentially allows sub-standard housing.

- Madison County Commissioner and GOP Congressional candidate Mo Brooks, who says he is “not warm and fuzzy”.  I like Mo and we talked about a few issues but mostly chatted.

- State Representative Randy Hinshaw (D-21) about Mexican food and gambling.  I like getting Randy’s perspective on issues, whether or not we agree (and on many issues we do), he is a force in Montgomery.

***

I visited the Wind Creek Casino in Atmore last week – the casino was fairly crowded since they’re the only game in town.  In addition, the Poarch Creeks have a nice convention / meeting capability.  The hotel room was really nice – earthy decor, amenities like in-room fridge and two-headed shower, and comfy bedding.   The on-site restaurants were outstanding – locals eat there and don’t even gamble.  I also got to see some of the Magnolia Branch Wildlife Reserve - I’d sure like to make time to canoe Escambia Creek – sandy bottoms and blackish water.

Speaking of gambling – the bingo machines are still illegal slot machines:  

the Alabama Supreme Court has already ruled that slot machine gambling, no matter if it’s called “bingo” or something else, is illegal (Barber v. Jefferson County Racing Association, 2006). After this ruling, another court ruled specifically that electronic bingo was an illegal slot machine (VFW v. Green, 2008).

It’s a shame that the Alabama legislature and law enforcement have let this mess get out of hand -  and the legislation coming up next week looks to be just as shameful. 

I do not support the State selecting a few big mules for gambling concessions – if we legalize gambling I’d like to see a free market system – like Harrah’s and MGM Mirage (Beau Rivage) and Sam’s Town.

The Creeks have a protected status because of Federal law (Indian Gaming Regulatory Act) – they can have whatever gaming is allowed in the State.  What they can have is regulated by the State, under three classes of gaming defined by the State.  Class I gaming is traditional Indian games, Class II is electronic bingo (but slot machines are not protected under Federal law!), and Class III is slots, table games like roulette and blackjack.

Since the State outlaws gaming – and is now enforcing the law – it looks like the Creek’s $245 million hotel / casino gamble is at risk.  Gambling Task Force leader John Tyson says that he’s saving the Creeks for last in the State’s gambling raids.

Some people (Democrats) have made comments about how the Alabama Supreme Court is full of “activist judges”, because they defined a six-point set of rules for what constitutes ‘bingo’. The Dems imply that Republicans are hypocrites because they rail against activist judges even as the GOP-dominated Court ‘makes laws from the bench’.   Just like many things Democrats say – this is bogus.

Here is the criteria provided in the supreme court ruling:

- Each player uses one or more cards with spaces arranged in five columns and five rows, with an alphanumeric or similar designation assigned to each space.

- Alphanumeric or similar designations are randomly drawn and announced one by one.

- Each player must pay attention to the values announced in order to play. If one of the values matches a value on one or more of the player’s cards, the player must physically act by marking his or her card accordingly.

- A player may miss an opportunity to be declared a winner by failing to pay proper attention or to properly mark his or her card.

- A player must recognize that his or her card has a ” bingo,” i.e., a predetermined pattern of matching values, and in turn announce to the other players and the announcer that this is the case before any other player does so.

- The game of bingo contemplates a group activity in which multiple players compete against each other to be the first to properly mark a card with the predetermined winning pattern and announce the fact.

Turns out that the Alabama Supreme Court applied a widely available test to differentiate Class II bingo from Class III slots – not really legislating from the bench.   After a couple of hours of personal testing and observation of the machines at Wind Creek – IMO the machines do not meet the tests, especially points 3, 4, and 5 – once you start playing the bingo / slot machine there is no player interaction.

Note that if the Creeks wanted, they could host Poker tournaments where players compete against each other – as long as the player doesn’t play against the house it’s considered Class II gaming (and outside State regulation).

I’m still unclear on how the dog tracks and pari-mutuel betting play into all this…

If the State Legislature wants to legalize casinos, they need to legalize Class III gaming.  BTW the Indians don’t have to negotiate with (or pay special taxes to) the State unless Class III gaming is legal.

On the other hand, if the State wants to outlaw gambling – we need to outlaw the pari-mutuel betting dog tracks.  That would fix a lot of problems – they haven’t done anything for the State except make a few big mules rich and  finance the Democrat Party – on the carcasses of dead dogs…

One thing the Creeks have done that bothers me is contributing $600,000 to John Teague’s PACs – Teague was involved in the Smithwick School Board hijacking – he has no respect for the electoral process.  I hope that the Creeks find a more reputable political consultant.

***

Parker Griffith and the Fair Tax – I’ll go ahead and acknowledge Brian’s point that Griffith is pandering – but I’ll also say it’s a win for the Fair Tax.   Regardless of Griffith’s motives he realized that he needed to support the Fair Tax to win.  AL05 Congressional candidates Les Phillip and Mo Brooks have both signed the Fair Tax Pledge.  Griffith just removed that issue from the table, which is pretty slick politicking.

Alabama Congressmen Jo Bonner (AL01) and Spencer Bachus (AL06) are both co-sponsors of the Fair Tax.  If Griffith in his new-found conservative activism can convince his buddies Senators Shelby and Sessions (or others) to co-sponsor the Fair Tax and credit Griffith’s influence, then he will have solid credentials in what has become a bedrock issue among area Republicans.

Congratulations to the Fair Tax volunteers and supporters for making the Fair Tax a gateway issue to election.

The Huntsville Tea Party posted questionnaire responses from Mo Brooks, Parker Griffith, and Les Phillip.  The questions include:

1. Why are you running for office?
2. Is it better to have individual or collective rights?  Why?
3. What is the role of our federal government?
4. Does Congress have few and defined powers, or numerous and indefinite?  What powers will you have as a lawmaker in Washington DC, if you are elected? 
5. Will you vote for or support any bills that are not derived from a specific power granted in the US Constitution?
6.  Will you champion an effort to repeal passed legislation that is unconstitutional (i.e., federal bailouts, legislation that gives the federal government more control over our health care)?  Do you have a specific plan of action for repealing this type of legislation, and, if so, what is it?
7. Do you agree with the following quote?  “With respect to the two words ‘general welfare’, I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them.  To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators”.  How do you interpret the general welfare clause (Article 1, section 8.1)?
8.  How do you interpret the commerce clause (Article 1, section 8.3)?
9.  What are your solutions for job growth in Alabama?
10.  What do you see as the proper balance between what the Federal government should do and what should be left to the states?
11. What will you do to balance the United States’ budget?
12.  What will you do to protect our borders and eliminate illegal immigration into our country?
13. What will you do to help America become energy-independent?
14. Will you commit to meeting with the Huntsville Tea Party for a town hall with your constituents during your first year, if elected?
15.  Candidate-specific questions…

Great questions with informative responses!  The Tea Party interjects comments after some of the responses – the whole set makes for interesting reading.

WVNN’s Dale Jackson is hosting a candidate get together at Mason’s downtown this Friday, February 26, 2010 from 5PM until 8PM.

Dale Jackson’s last event at the Melting Pot drew a huge crowd – this event should be even bigger.  Mason’s has a great beer list, good food, and a pleasant ambiance – plus they’ll be well-dressed for this event.  If you want to get to know your local politicos, now’s your chance.  If you want to discuss the Free the Hops Brewery Modernization Act with them – I’m sure they’d love to hear about it.

Confirmed officials and candidates include a good mix of Democrats and Republicans:

• State Senator Tom Butler
• State Representative Mike Ball
• State Representative Phil Williams
• State Representative Butch Taylor
• State Representative Micky Hammon
• State Representative Randy Hinshaw
• State Representative Howard Sanderford
• AL-05 Congressional Candidate Mo Brooks
• AL-05 Congressional Candidate Les Phillip
• AL-05 Congressional Candidate Mitchell Howie
• Candidate for State Senate (SD-2) Bill Holtzclaw
• Candidate for State Senate (SD-9) Tony Cochran
• Candidate for State Senate (SD-9) Don Spurlin
• Candidate for State Senate (SD-9) John Wilson
• Candidate for State Senate (SD-9) Clay Scofield
• Candidate for State Representative (D-20) David Pinkleton
• Candidate for State School Board Mary Scott Hunter

The New York Times reports that UAH professor Amy Bishop “might have booby-trapped the science building with some sort of “herpes bomb,” police officials said, designed to spread the dangerous virus… she had done work with the herpes virus as a post-doctoral student and had talked about how it could cause encephalitis. She had also written an unpublished novel in which a herpes-like virus spreads throughout the world, causing pregnant women to miscarry.”

The article goes on to provide a good summary of the other Bishop incidents (shooting her brother, IHOP assault, mail bomb).  This story just keeps getting weirder and weirder…

I attended the Madison County Republican breakfast Saturday morning – the place was packed – extra chairs had to be pulled out for seating.  This shows a lot of interest and energy in the Alabama Republican Party, given that the scheduled speakers were “statewide Republican candidates with primary opposition” – that is, no big names were advertised.

The ‘biggest’ speaker was State Senator Hank Erwin, running for Lieutenant Governor.  I’d never met Erwin, but I’ve agreed with him on some issues and disagreed with him on others (he was the biggest opponent of last year’s Gourmet Beer Bill).  I got to speak with him early and found that he’s a nice guy – I’d already thought of him as a pretty good politician.  He talked about passing movie industry incentives last year and how he’d like to recruit ‘wholesome family movies’ to Alabama.  I wonder if the incentives helped bring Bear Grylls’ nude bottom (Man vs Wild) to Alabama…

I caught up with Erwin after the event to speak with him about Free the Hops and the Brewery Modernization Act.  I think he was somewhere between uncomfortable and amused with our discussion.  I hope to turn him around on FTH, but regardless, he has my vote.

***

Congressman Parker Griffith attended the breakfast.  As usual, Elbert Peters announced the names of elected officals attending and asked for people to hold their applause until all the elected officials were recognized.  Griffith received (light but enthusiastic) applause anyway.  He wasn’t alone in receiving applause, but I thought I’d point it out.

Griffith and I chatted before the breakfast – he recognized me as a contributor here at Flashpoint.  For the record, his face wasn’t beet-red.  Also for the record, the man is a gifted politician.

As someone interested in the art of politics, I think that Griffith is a talented politican and I’ve mused that he wouldn’t have switched parties unless he thought he could win.  So, I asked him how he thinks he can win.

Griffith began by saying that the Congressional Democrats were more liberal than he thought (if only he had read Flashpoint! – and if only I’d been quick enough on my feet to remember that quip!) and that the Democrat leadership was too liberal to work with - Democrats were opposed to issues critical to Alabama like manned space flight and defense.  Griffith mentioned a recent encounter with someone who criticized him for switching parties and he noted that Ronald Reagan and Richard Shelby and Fob James also switched parties (IIRC Reagan and James weren’t in office when they switched).  Griffith noted that the GOP leadership assigned him to the Energy and Commerce Committee – unlike some who diminish this Committee’s power I think that it’s a peach appointment – it’s one of the most powerful committees in the House.  I mentioned that Griffith had gotten a good welcome to the party with the Davidson fundraiser.

An interesting point that Griffith brought up was the number of Republican crossovers who voted for him when he was a Democrat – he’s certainly counting on their votes this time. 

Here’s ace reporter Challen Stephens of  The Huntsville Times on the committee appointment (“Griffith says he’s satisfied with the way he changed parties”):

Griffith, as a new Republican, has emerged as the only freshman member of Congress on the Energy and Commerce committee, a group that touches roughly half of the legislation in Congress. That includes health care and communications reforms, and energy policy, foreign commerce and consumer protection.

Before people start thinking I’ve gone over to Griffith’s side, let me say that he’s my third choice.  However before he was elected to Congress I said that I could vote FOR Griffith on the issues – this was before the hospital scandal.  My biggest problem is still the Huntsville Hospital documents – I read them and they’re disturbing – but I’m left wondering if that’s just me.  After all, Griffith wasn’t arrested and he still has his medical license – if he really did cause “unwarranted pain and suffering” to his patients then something should have been done years ago.  I don’t think I got played – the documents were real – but maybe they didn’t give me the whole story (does that mean I got played?).  That whole mess is disturbing – no wonder people wanted to ignore it.

I spoke with a few people about Griffith’s switch – he’s got a surprising amount of support.  Some of his biggest GOP detractors will vote for him over any Democrat.  IMO if he makes it through the primary – he’ll win the election.

One of the most intriguing items to come from the day was an invitation for Brian and me to meet with Griffith – given that whatever we write on this blog we’ll say to someone’s face - won’t that be interesting…

WHNT19 and the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology hosted the “Race for the Governor” Debate on February 1, 2010.  The debate focused on education.  Patricia McCarter of The Huntsville Times wrote up a nice summary “Gubernatorial candidates quizzed on education issues at HudsonAlpha forum”:

The 90-minute forum, which was broadcast live on WHNT2 digital channel as well as al.com and whnt.com, was not interactive between the eight candidates.

Held at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, the forum was focused solely on educational issues. Partners in the venture were WHNT, HudsonAlpha, The Huntsville Times and ETV…

Candidates were given 15 seconds, 30 seconds or a minute to give their answers, depending on the question.

I watched the WHNT video, but with an eye more for the scheduling and flow of the questions in order to inform the scheduling for the upcoming Huntsville Governors Forum (March 2, 2010 at the Davidson Center – 6:15PM).  These are my rough notes, the times are video run times, enjoy.

8 candidates seated on stage, 4 panelists seated facing candidates.  Draw from hat for seating and first question, then rotate.

2:15 Emcee Steve Johnson from WHNT gives intro of Hudson Alpha, panelists, and rules.  Note that the questions are onscreen – nice touch.

2:30 Panelist 1 = Neil Lamb of Hudson Alpha.

Question1 – Alabama has a need for high tech workers, as Governor what is one thing you would do to make sure that our K-12 schools lay a strong foundation in these areas?   Thirty seconds to respond.

2:45 Bentley – Alabama Reading Initiative, need to expand Math and Science Initiative.

3:00 Sparks – get females interested in Math and Science.  We need funding.

3:40 James – expand ARI and AMSTI, need to address 40% drop out rate.

4:10 Byrne – expand AMSTI, one of biggest concerns is what we’re not doing in technical education.

4:45 Johnson – show students how science is relevant to life in the real world.

5:20 Davis – need to identify students with aptitude in math and science.

5:55 Potts – financial accountability, achieve grade level, discipline.

6:20 Ivey – only one running for Governor who was a teacher, get young people excited.

7:10 Bentley Bio

Panelist 2 = Maura Bailey of Grissom High School.

7:35 Question 2 – Teacher shortages due to proration. Given the inflexibility of the Alabama tax structure, do you advocate Constitutional reform in order to fund education?  Thirty seconds to respond.

8:00 Sparks – gambling.

8:30 James – the problem is that education trust fund money is getting siphoned off at the top.

9:05 Byrne – better budgeting and planning.

9:35 Johnson – do not support Constitutional reform, gambling.

10:05 Davis – 100% for Constitutional reform, Constitutional Convention.

10:35 Potts – against reframing the Constitution, fiscal accountability.

11:00 Ivey – prevent pro-ration by budgeting better, cut administrative overhead.

11:25 Bentley – 87% of education budget is earmarked, sees no push in the legislature for Constitutional Reform, need to budget more conservatively.

12:00 Byrne Bio

Panelist 3 = Kevin Wendt of the Huntsville Times
Panelist 4 = Lisa Washington of WHNT

Those 12 minutes took me like 45 minutes to write up, so I don’t think I’ll ever write up the rest.  If you’re interested in more details, read McCarter’s story linked above or watch the video at WHNT19.

***

For a thirty second answer from 8 candidates you need to budget about 5 minutes.  We’ll have six of the GOP candidates (just as with the WHNT debate, Roy Moore has a scheduling conflict).

The Huntsville Governors Forum will start promptly at 6:15PM on March 2 with the presentation of the colors by the Butler HS ROTC Color Guard.  We’ve budgeted about 15 minutes for the ceremony and introduction.

We’re planning on having 3 panelists ask substantive questions in their areas of interest, then providing about 2 minutes per candidate for answers (1 min question + (6 candidates x 2 min answer) = 13 min plus 2 min transitions = 15 minute budget).  Perhaps surprisingly,  2 minutes is a long time to spend on a topic (sometimes candidates only get to make a 2 minute speech).  Maybe we’ll get some detailed answers that will give us more insight into the candidates’ philosophy and plans.

We plan to have a Lightning Round of 10 questions (including a Free the Hops question).  All but one of the questions was chosen by committee from this list.  We’ve got about 30 minutes budgeted for this.  We won’t be posting a questionnaire.

Each candidate will have the opportunity to ask one other candidate a question in a Round Robin – 15 minutes.

The Forum is already a success in that the YRs and Right On are breaking even (venue costs covered by sponsors) – what we need next is a big turnout.  See you there…

The Pew Center on the States published the “The Trillion Dollar Gap: Underfunded State Retirement Systems and the Road to Reform”:

$1 trillion. That’s the gap at the end of fiscal year 2008 between the $2.35 trillion states had set aside to pay for employees’ retirement benefits and the $3.35 trillion price tag of those promises.

Why does it matter? Because every dollar spent to reduce the unfunded retirement liability cannot be used for education, public safety and other needs. Ultimately, taxpayers could face higher taxes or cuts in essential public services…

To a significant degree, the $1 trillion reflects states’ own policy choices and lack of discipline:

• failing to make annual payments for pension systems at the levels recommended by their own actuaries;
• expanding benefits and offering cost-of-living increases without fully considering their long-term price tag or determining how to pay for them; and
• providing retiree health care without adequately funding it.

The Pew Report says that the Alabama Retirement System “needs improvement” (Alabama doesn’t fund accrued liabilities at the GAO-recommended percentage – we’re at 77% instead of 80% making us a “laggard in state pension funding”).  Overall on the pension side, Alabama doesn’t rate as a “solid performer” in any category, but we’re not that bad, and we don’t rate “serious concerns” in any category.

The report notes that our 2008 State Retirement “latest liability” is $40,206,232,000.  Our “latest unfunded liability” is $9.2B.  Our “annual required contribution” and “latest actual contribution” was over a $1B  (we were one of the few States to meet the contributions to the penny – for example Illinois, which is in crisis, should have contributed $3.7B but only contributed $2.2B).

However, on the retiree health care side we don’t do as well:  the report notes that the State Retiree Health Care “latest liability” is about $16B with the “latest unfunded liability” at about $15.5B – this is bad.  The State’s “annual required contribution” is $1.3B and the “latest actual contribution” is $1.1B – that’s a couple of hundred million worth of bad.  Focusing only on the retiree health care funding we are in the seriously messed up category.

Some of the general recommendations Pew makes are:

“Keep up with funding requirements”
“Reducing benefits or increasing the retirement age”
“Sharing the risk with employees” (i.e, 401K)
“Increasing employee contributions”
“Governance and Investment Oversight” (i.e., Alabama’s RSA)

Some “structural issues” that “make it more difficult for states to keep up with the needs of current workers and retirees” are:

“Early retirement” (bad idea – like Huntsville’s buy-out)
“Cost of living adjustments”
“Sharing excess returns”
“Double dipping”
“Spiking final salaries”

Pew notes that dealing with public sector unions (i.e., AEA) make addressing the problem “a struggle”.  They also say that “Pension Obligation Bonds” are a bad idea (”use caution”) – think the JeffCo Sewer mess.  Another problem is that states use rosy “investment return assumptions” – Pew says Alabama assumes 8% return on investments.

Pew identifies four states as “models for success”.  Florida for “providing consistent funding”; Nebraska for “reducing risk through a cash balance plan” (like an IRA);  Iowa for “benefit caps and adjustable employee contributions”;  and Georgia for “understanding the impact of reform” (any legislation affecting retiree benefits requires an actuarial study of the long term impact).

The State pension plans included in Pew’s analysis are: “Teacher’s Retirement System”, “Employee’s Retirement System”, and “Judicial Retirement Fund”.  The State retiree health plans included are: “Retired State Employees’ Health Care Trusts” and “Retired  Education Employees’ Health Care Trust”.

The Pew report is a good read, but kind of scary.