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:
- This week, the Oklahoma House Financial Services & Pensions Committee unanimously passed a bill granting a cost of living adjustment (COLA) to retired public employees. The committee’s vote on the bill generated some decent media coverage. Below are a few of the articles covering action on the COLA bill:
- Kentucky teachers group calling for statewide ‘sickout’ to protest pension board proposal by Mandy McLaren: Republican state legislators in Kentucky are relentless in their attacks on public pensions, especially for public school teachers. This week legislation was proposed that would dramatically restructure the board of the Teachers Retirement System. While this might not seem like a big deal, changes to pension boards can open the door to attacks on pensions. In response to the proposed legislation, thousands of Kentucky teachers called in sick on Thursday in order to protest at the state capitol.
Also this week, the National Institute on Retirement Security released the results of a new survey of Americans regarding the retirement security crisis. We’ll delve deeper into the survey results next week, but the findings overwhelmingly show that Americans- Republicans, Democrats, and independents- are concerned about saving for retirement. One key finding from the survey: More than three-fourths of Americans have a favorable view of defined benefit pensions.
Be sure to check back next week for the latest news in the fight for a secure retirement!
