State Sponsored Plans

UPDATE, MARCH 14: The provision described below was subsequently withdrawn. For more on that development, click here.  Thus far, the state-run retirement proposals have focused their mandates on employers that don’t offer plans — but that could be getting ready to change. Here’s your chance to do... READ MORE

The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 29 allowed cuts to remain in place that the administration of Gov. Chris Christie (R) made to the state’s public employee pension system.According to the Associated Press, the High Court rejected an appeal by public employee unions in the Garden State of a June 9,... READ MORE

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) on Feb. 16 signed a reform of the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS) — the state pension system that serves state police and firefighters. The reform is contained in SB 1428 and 1429, which Sen. Debbie Lesko (R-Peoria) introduced. In a press... READ MORE

New Jersey’s public employee pension system has long been embroiled in financial difficulties. Challenges to steps the administration of Gov. Chris Christie (R) has taken to address them found their way into the dockets, and now are being bumped upstairs to the state — and federal — Supreme Courts... READ MORE

Many state and local pension plans have poor funding ratios in varying degrees of severity. That alone would seem challenge enough, but they also face additional stresses courtesy of a variety of economic factors, according to a recent report. Slowing economic growth worldwide, lower prices for... READ MORE

It’s going to take much of the East Coast a while to dig out from the blizzard of 2016, but they will. It will be much harder, however, for Illinois to dig out from its unfunded pension liability, which the office of Illinois Auditor General William G. Holland reports has worsened further.Another $... READ MORE

Location, location, location. It’s something of a truism about the three things that most affect property values. Apparently it also applies to retirement plan access.Using a pooled version of the 2010-14 Minnesota Population Center’s Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) Current... READ MORE

The American Retirement Association (ARA) submitted a comment letter Jan. 15, 2016 to the Department of Labor (DOL) concerning a proposed regulation under which an individual retirement account (IRA) plan, if established and maintained under a payroll deduction program mandated under state law,... READ MORE

The Nutmeg State has taken another step toward the creation of a state-run retirement program for private sector workers with the release of a lengthy report detailing the potential elements of such a program.In 2014, Connecticut enacted legislation creating the Connecticut Retirement Security... READ MORE