Welcome to the latest edition of This Week in Pensions! As we do most weeks, we have gathered the best stories about pensions and retirement security from the previous week. This is the news you need to know in the fight for a secure retirement.
Here are this week’s top stories:
- Supreme Court pension ruling landmark win for good government, public servants by Andy Beshear: Kentucky’s Attorney General, who successfully argued the case before the state Supreme Court that struck down SB 151, details the fight to defeat that bill here. “Alongside the Kentucky Education Association and the Fraternal Order of Police, I fought for more than seven months to undo the governor’s unconstitutional actions… The governor and lawmakers denied the people of Kentucky the truth on how their ‘pension reform’ was going to financially hurt our state at a time when we cannot afford to waste a single taxpayer dollar.”
- Setting the record straight on teacher pensions by Paul McDonough: a retired teacher in Illinois sets the record straight about how pensions for retired teachers are funded in the state. The state of Illinois does not pay 100 percent of the cost of teacher pensions. Teachers contribute toward their pensions and much of the revenue to fund pensions comes from investment earnings.
- Education, pension and tax reform big issues facing South Carolina legislators in 2019 by Cindy Landrum: pensions may be threatened in South Carolina this year. Last year, the state passed legislation requiring increased contributions from both employers and employees to improve funding of the pension systems. This year, according to media reports, “lawmakers will consider switching the system to a defined-contribution plan instead of a defined-benefit plan that provides monthly payments for life, based on years worked and salary… ‘We do have to make the change,’ said Sen. Tom Corbin, R-Greenville.” Making this switch would devastate retirement security for working families in the Palmetto State.
- What’s on tap in the Kentucky legislature? Pensions, taxes and anger by Tom Loftus: after SB 151 was struck down as unconstitutional and lawmakers adjourned Governor Bevin’s special session after just 23 hours, Republican legislators in Kentucky plan to, once again, consider a pension bill in the legislative session this year. However, “legislative leaders say there certainly will be no attempt to rush a pension bill into law the first week.”
Be sure to check back next week for the latest news in the fight for a secure retirement!
