Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PROVIDENCE -- Governor Carcieri will appeal to the state Supreme Court a Superior Court judge's ruling today that blocks the governor from increasing health-care costs to thousands of Council 94 union members who work in the executive branch.

The governor will seek an immediate stay and appeal from the state's highest court and ask the court to require Council 94 to post a bond for the money that would have been collected through the co-share deductions, according to a statement from the governor's office late today.

Carcieri met with top advisers for about an hour this afternoon after Superior Court Judge Patricia A. Hurst today issued a clarification of her ruling last week on Carcieri's executive order aimed at unionized state employees, which left both the governor's office and organized labor claiming partial victory.

"On August 20th, Judge Hurst correctly decided that she did not have the authority to enjoin this office from implementing the Executive Order within the Executive Branch," Carcieri said in a statement late today. "This latest decision by Judge Hurst is not a clarification of that decision; it is a complete and outrageous reversal of what she said just last week."

In her ruling today, Hurst said Carcieri could not impose health-care costs to Council 94 union members who work in the executive branch until the matter is addressed by the state Labor Relations Board.

Carcieri's statement this afternoon also hints that he could take other steps besides the health-care cost increases. As governor, he said, he "has a constitutional obligation to balance the budget, and will take the necessary actions to achieve the cost savings associated with that budget. I am prepared to implement other personnel cost saving measures if necessary."

For more background, read projo.com's earlier post on Judge Hurst's ruling today.

-- With reports from Steve Peoples of the Journal State House Bureau

 Tags  Council 94 Governor Carcieri health-care costs

Comments

Dan said:

Hopefully the Justices will see this for what it really is, i.e. an attempt to run the Judiciary. He has tried before to control the Judiciary and failed. Let the law take its' course and not be bullied by this hot tempered bully.

Link | August 26, 2008 6:15 PM
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