A top focus for state legislatures in 2010 was pension laws. “The states are just beginning to come to terms with the fiscal burdens presented by decades of over-promising on employee pensions,” says Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia.
• A new Missouri law creates an employee contribution of 4 percent of salary – before taxes – for members of the Department of Transportation and Highway Patrol Employees’ Retirement System, the State Employees’ Retirement System and the retirement plan for judges. Before this new law, members made no contributions.
• New members of Pennsylvania’s Public School Employees’ Retirement System and the State Employees’ Retirement System will be required to belong to a “Shared Risk Defined Benefit Plan.” Employee contributions will go up and down depending on available funding.
• Most public employees in Illinois will have their retirement age increased to 67. Cost of living adjustments will be reduced after retirement, and longer periods of service will be required.
