No relief of conscience offered
BOP approves extension of benefits to same-sex domestic partners of plan members
By Carmen Fowler LaBerge, The Layman, March 3, 2012
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — The same-gender domestic partners of members of the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Board of Pensions (BOP) benefits plan will be eligible for the equivalent of spousal and child benefits beginning Jan. 1, 2013. The member of the plan “must verify that he or she has a civil license or certificate evidencing a civil marriage, civil union or domestic partnership” in order to qualify, according to the press release issued by the BOP’s Board of Directors after two hours of closed-door executive session deliberations at the Philadelphia meeting.
Although no further action is needed since the BOP directors’ vote is binding, the decision will be communicated to the 220th General Assembly (GA) in response to the 219th GA referral which urged the BOP to extend benefits to the same-sex domestic partners of church employees. In the community based benefits plan, the entire church will bear the cost of the extension of benefits.
No dues increase = no relief of conscience
“The General Assembly, in urging coverage of same-gender partners, authorized the Board of Pensions to increase employer dues up to 1 percent to compensate for any rise in costs. The board determined that a dues increase was not needed at this time, but it will continue to monitor the situation,” Robert W. Maggs, Jr., president and chief executive of the Board of Pensions, said in the press release.
The release continues, “Because there was no immediate dues increase, the board of directors did not design a ‘relief of conscience’ mechanism, which would have freed congregations opposed to same-gender benefits from having to contribute to the cost tied to that coverage.”
The BOP’s eight member special committee reported to the full board of directors in executive session and the action taken by the board was based on the special committee’s report and recommendations.
In reference to the question of a dues increase, the special committee’s report says that “After examining the relief of conscience administrative process for abortion claims, the special committee concluded that the concept of separating dues streams does not provide a solution for this issue at this time.”
Further, “The special committee concluded that there are sufficient reserves in the plan to cover any incremental costs that may be incurred during the first years of the proposed benefit entitlement.” The report admits that “more experience and demographic information on the use of extended benefits by members of this plan would be needed before the cost of benefits could be measured with more precision and any need for increased dues, or any economic provision for relief of conscience, reasonably be determined.”
No significant negative fallout anticipated
It is the assessment of the special committee that the “plan amendments would not risk plan solvency or stability.”
This assessment is based upon the following analysis:
“According to the 2010 census data, there are 112,611,029 households in the United States.”
“Of all households, 646,464 are same-sex households,” or about 0.574 percent of all households.”
Impact on pension plan:
- “The board’s actuary, using an assumption that between 1 percent and 5 percent of plan members would have same-gender partners, estimated the actuarial impact on the pension plan to be a maximum one-time increase of between $10 million-$40 million (or 0.2 percent -0.8 percent) in the pension plan’s liabilities.”
- “Actual benefit payments would be made over time as members with same-gender partners die and leave a surviving partner to receive” spousal pension benefits.”
Impact on medical plan:
- “The board’s medical actuary, using an assumption that 1 percent of plan members would have same-gender partners, estimated the financial impact of the extension of benefits on the medical plan to be an increase of less than 1 percent in total annual plan expenses.”
No reference is made to the risk run by the board in extending such benefits in an environment where the report itself acknowledges that “an extension of same-gender benefits to same-gender partners is unacceptable on theological grounds.” The report does not consider with what probability members will leave the plan when benefits are extended on Jan. 1, 2013 without the provision of a relief of conscience.
A question of values
According to the report, “The special committee also believes that the board, in adopting those plan amendments, would be acting consistently with its historical efforts to administer the plan in accordance with the values of the Presbyterian Church (USA) as reflected in the actions of the General Assembly.”
The Board of Pensions has posted question and answer material and other related documents at www.pensions.org.