PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Municipal employees were spared the ax during the last pension-cutting drive at the State House, but not the attention of state lawmakers who have now launched a "Special Senate Commission to Study Municipal Pensions.''

The resolution creating the five-member commission was introduced Tuesday by Senate Finance Chairman Daniel DaPonte, D-East Providence, and Senate Majority Leader Daniel Connors, D-Cumberland, and approved by the full Senate the same day, before the Senators joined their colleagues in the House in taking a break, of indeterminate length, with scores of high-profile bills still hanging in limbo.

The resolution notes that there are numerous municipal pensions systems that are not members of the state retirement system but nonetheless "an integral part of the state's annual budget expenditure as well as the state's economy as a whole.''

"As such, the General Assembly finds that in order to provide the citizens of the State of Rhode Island with the highest level of financial accountability while protecting the public employee's right to accrued pension benefits, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive review and study of municipal pensions.''

The commission would be comprised of five including the Senate majority leader, his Republican counterpart, the Senate Finance Committee chairman and two other Senators appointed by Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed, though they can each designate members of the public to take their place.

The study will encompass the same array of issues covered by a House study commission over the last year and a half: "funding, investments and management, eligibility, age of retirement, benefits, contributions, vesting, disqualification, review of any and all statutes, rules or regulations pertinent to municipal pensions.''

The panel has until June 30, 2010 to report its findings and recommendations.