Two state senators have filed a bill to ban double-dipping by state employees. Double-dipping is the practice, described in last week’s Our View, that allows state workers to “retire” for as little as 30 days then come back to work as if nothing had happened. Except that now they’re collecting their pensions along with their paychecks. Ban it, we say.

Problem is, the bill offered by Sens. Mike Fasano, R-Port Richey, and Don Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, goes too far. Under their plan, a state worker who decided to change careers would not be allowed to continue collecting his or her state pension, should the new job also involve working for the state – albeit in a completely different capacity.

There’s nothing unethical about changing careers, and no law is needed to address it. What we want fixed is the specific practice described in this column’s opening paragraph. As we noted last week, the whole point of the state’s Deferred Retirement Option Program was to clear the decks of highly-paid old hands to make room for hungry new entry-level workers. Launching a new career, even if it’s also in the public sector, doesn’t undercut that objective in the least.