State Sponsored Plans

Plan sponsors of 403(b)s offered by institutions of higher learning are changing them in a variety of ways, Cammack Retirement Group reports. Cammack’s “Higher Education Retirement Plan Survey” identified the following changes by plan sponsors of these 403(b)s: More than 90% offer target date... READ MORE

Education funding has figured prominently in the Michigan gubernatorial race, says fiscal analyst James Hohman, but not for the reason one may expect. In a piece in the Port Huron Times Herald, Hohman, who is assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, argues that... READ MORE

Public pensions can be fair game when a city government declares bankruptcy under federal law, the federal judge overseeing Stockton, Calif.’s bankruptcy has ruled.U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein on Oct. 8 ruled that the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause trumps California’s public... READ MORE

Retirement plans and health benefits are different things and serve different purposes. Nonetheless, they can intersect functionally — and retirement accounts and health savings accounts (HSAs) are a prime example, as a BenefitsPro report observed recently.Like retirement accounts, HSAs are tax-... READ MORE

A new white paper by the Conference of Consulting Actuaries’ Public Plans Community (CCAPPC) targeted to actuaries and retirement boards examines the development of actuarial funding policies and practices. The paper is based on more than two years of extensive and detailed funding policy... READ MORE

Differences in workforce composition — not costs — appear to be a primary cause for the lower rate at which small employers sponsor retirement plans, according to a new report. As a group, the characteristics of small-firm employees differ substantially from the characteristics of large-firm... READ MORE

Though markets averaged a 7.45% return from 2004-2012, unfunded liability of public pension funds tripled — to just under $2 trillion — over that same period, according to a recent Moody’s report. Along with trying to recover from the recent recession, public entities are simply not providing... READ MORE

Pennsylvania and neighbor to the east New Jersey, no strangers to bracing news regarding the effect of their financially strapped public pension plans, have received yet more tough assessments. And the Keystone State’s neighbor to the west, Ohio, has as well.Fitch announced on Sept. 23 that it cut... READ MORE

Oregon State Treasurer Ted Wheeler recently presented the legislature with recommendations for increasing Oregonians’ retirement savings, access to a retirement plan and ability to enroll in one. The recommendations are the work of the state’s Retirement Security Task Force, which the legislature... READ MORE