The problem you have is if you don't act on it, your ordinance ... does not comport with state law. I don't want you to get sued.

[Right now] you have different choices for different classes of people. No one's challenging that. The law ... just deals with uniformity for retiree benefits, not uniformity among [current employees].

The problem with retirees is once you're a retiree, you're no longer a member of a collective bargain agreement.

In your passage of this ordinance, we're not saying that we're paying the medical bills of people who in the past didn't qualify. I don't foresee that being a problem whatsoever. ... It's relatively limited to the area of disability retirement.

What is this emergency act all about? Is it another name for martial law?

The attorney general conceded that the Patriot Act isn't perfect, and that it can be changed without damaging law enforcement's ability to stop terrorists,