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:
Branford RTM approves PD switch back to traditional defined-benefit police pensions by Mark Zaretsky. Over the last month, we’ve written about the small town of Branford, Connecticut and their push to move police officers back to a defined benefit pension from a defined contribution 401(k). In 2011, Branford moved all of their newly hired police officers to a 401(k) plan, which triggered negative consequences for recruitment and retention of officers. This week, the Representative Town meeting unanimously approved both the four-year contract for officers and the move back to a defined benefit pension.
Bevin’s pension bill is still short of votes as clock ticks down for special session by Tom Loftus. After vetoing Kentucky lawmakers’ pension bill at the end of legislative session, Governor Matt Bevin vowed to call a special session to address pensions. Last month, Bevin released his own proposal that will violate the inviolable contract with employees of quasi-state agencies. With roughly five weeks left until these quasi-agencies see a hike of more than 75 percent in their pension costs, Bevin is lacking the votes for his proposal.
Top democrat will introduce legislation targeting N.J. public-worker pension, health care costs by Samantha Marcus. This week, New Jersey State Senate President Stephen Sweeney announced he will introduce legislation moving newly hired and recently hired state employees who have not yet vested in their pensions into a hybrid retirement plan, which is a combination of a defined benefit pension and a defined contribution 401(k)-style plan. We’ve seen other states make this switch in the past to only worsen the overall funding of their pension plans and hurt the retirement security of public employees.
Be sure to check back next week for the latest news in the fight for a secure retirement!
