April 4 edition, Pension Issues in the News

APRIL 4, 2019

MINNESOTA NEWS + OPINION

With first deadline, session picks up steam

Austin Herald

It permits Austin to allocate a portion of fire state aid to pay employer ... behalf of firefighters covered by the Public Employee Retirement Association Police ... The first was urgent funding for the Minnesota Licensing and Registration ...

Minnesota State Board of Investment approves $150m commitment

Private Debt Investor

Minnesota State Board of Investment approves $150m commitment. The US public pension has backed a fund focused on acquiring distressed debt.

NATIONAL NEWS + OPINION

States Need to Spend on Infrastructure. Pension Shortfalls Are Getting In the Way.

Barron's

The U.S. can have sound public pensions or sound infrastructure. Choose one. States and municipalities face the twin crises of collapsing bridges and ...

Public Employees Are Living Longer Than Previously Assumed, New Report Finds

Reason Foundation

This could mean higher costs of pre-funding benefits for many small to mid-sized public pension plans.

Insights

Ice Miller LLP

Two recent state supreme court cases considered whether public pension participants are entitled to a particular benefit once offered through their ...

Here's How Much Public Pensions Are In The Hole By Per US Resident

ValueWalk Premium

A new report pegs U.S. public pensions' unfunded liabilities at nearly $6 trillion as of 2018. That amounts to a whopping $18,300 per U.S. resident.

How Public Pensions Could Trigger The Next Financial Crisis

ValueWalk

Public pension funds continue to demonstrate their bottomless appetite for credit and related products. However, the repeated setting of new records ...

A Lesson in Fiduciary Responsibility for Jamie Dimon

Forbes

Public pensions have been particularly targeted by activists in this space and have been for more than 20 years. Take for example my time as ...

NC wants retired teachers back. Bill would let them teach without hurting benefits.

Raleigh News & Observer

... North Carolina teachers to return to teach in high-needs public schools. ... could earn $35,000 to $40,000 a year and still collect their current pensions. ... of retired teachers to return to work full-time in the state's public schools, ...

Economic Insecurity Is Becoming the New Hallmark of Old Age

The Nation

The United States is in the early stages of a crippling retirement crisis. ... and public-sector civil servants in cities plagued by budget crises (read: Detroit). ... Pensions are regarded by most workers as among the most binding of all ...

State Pensions Plans Are In Bad Shape But Reforms Can Help

Forbes

It's no secret that state public pension systems across the country are in bad shape. A failure to make required contributions coupled with unrealistic ...

NJ Pension System Unlikely to Meet FY2019 7.5% Assumed Rate of Return

NJ Spotlight

Without a big rally by the end of the fiscal year, New Jersey's public-employee pension system doesn't stand a chance of making its 7.5 percent ...

Illinois May Tackle A Piece Of Its Pension Problem After Years Of Inaction

Forbes

The idea of consolidating local public safety pension funds has been swirling around Springfield for years, with no action. With the appointment of ...

Why are teachers calling in sick?

Courier Journal

The new pension bill was tacked onto Senate Bill 151, which originally ... that public education, teachers, and our public pensions are under attack.".

The New Politics of the Retirement Crisis

The New Republic

His wife, Cheri, who was 54, was investigating public records for a title insurance company. Then Jim's diabetes, sleep apnea, and chronic fatigue ...

New Challenges Bring New Militancy to Teacher Strikes

Truthout

Yet the public's belief was — and still is — that all children should be ... smaller class sizes, better and safer working conditions, and even pensions ...

Job Seekers Aren't as Interested in Government Gigs as They Used to Be, Research Shows

Fortune

Public sector jobs are often thought of as more stable and with better benefits, like pensions. But, when it comes to the current bottom line, 85% of ...

Retirees converge on capitol seeking cost-of-living adjustment

Tulsa World

Lynn Stockley, a retired Tulsa Public Schools teacher, noted that the costs of insurance and taxes continue to ... “Our pensions have stayed the same.

Chuck Reed plans to continue statewide pension reform

San José Spotlight

Reed, 71, says he'll continue working on reeling in the exploding costs of public pensions, the signature issue that won him national notoriety as San ...

MainePERS Has Some Suggestions for Struggling Public Pensions

PLANSPONSOR

According to Sandy Matheson, executive director of the Maine Public Employees Retirement System (MainePERS), there is good reason to be ...

Unfunded Liabilities in State Pension Plans Significantly Threaten Taxpayers in Nearly Every State

American Legislative Exchange Council

Unfunded Liabilities in State Pension Plans Significantly Threaten ... Public servants like teachers, firefighters and police officers include those at risk.

Opinion: Threatened PERS cuts affect teachers, firefighters and public workers

OregonLive.com

Here is the reality: more than 60 percent of the people working today receive the lowest level of benefits in the Public Employees Retirement System.

Most Teachers Won't Have Enough Retirement Savings Under Pension Plans, Study Finds

Education Week (blog)

State pension plans are leaving all but the longest-serving teachers without ... See also: Teacher Pay: How Salaries, Pensions, and Benefits Work in ... 8 percent of public school teachers are enrolled in defined-contribution plans that ...

Illinois' Tier 2 pensions continue to anger teachers, other public employees

The State Journal-Register

Officials from several public employee groups told state lawmakers Thursday that the pension reform measures enacted in 2010 are patently unfair ...