Is Pension Reform Dead?

Pension reform is an issue that has been a hot topic since the market collapse of 2007-08 left the state’s pension retirement funds hurting. The momentum was not there to reform the plans because the shortfall was so high and legislators, even if they wanted to reform the plan, did not want to spend the money needed to prop up the current plan to ensure that people got the benefits they were promised.

It’s pretty clear by the actions of the legislature this session that pension reform is not in the cards – at least until the next market collapse.

Senate Bill 2038 was part of an attempt to close the door on the current pension plan and have new state employees put into defined contribution plan (as much of the private sector had done in previous decades). Unfortunately, it was part of a fairly convoluted funding scheme tied together with school construc…