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Kentucky Supreme Court nixes pension law that prompted teacher protests
Source: Associated Press
Court nixes pension law that prompted teacher protests
By ADAM BEAM
December 13, 2018
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a law that made changes to the state’s struggling public pension system eight months after it prompted thousands of teachers to protest, closing schools across the state.
Public pension systems across the country are in trouble as workers live longer and states grapple to make up investment losses from the Great Recession. But Kentucky’s pension systems are among the worst funded in the country. The state is at least $38 billion short of the money it needs to pay benefits over the next three decades.
In April, Republican Gov. Matt Bevin signed a law that moved all new teacher hires into a hybrid pension plan. The law also restricted how teachers used sick days to calculate their retirement benefits and changed how the state pays off its pension debt.
Facing a tight deadline, state lawmakers introduced and passed the bill in one day near the end of the 2018 legislative session. The bill moved so quickly that a copy was not available for the public to read until the day after lawmakers had voted on it.
Teachers were outraged, thousands marched on the Capitol and schools in more than 30 districts closed. Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear sued, arguing the legislature violated the state Constitution by not voting on the proposal three times over three separate days. Bevin argued lawmakers did not need to do that because they had substituted the bill for an unrelated one that already had the required votes.
-snip-
By ADAM BEAM
December 13, 2018
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a law that made changes to the state’s struggling public pension system eight months after it prompted thousands of teachers to protest, closing schools across the state.
Public pension systems across the country are in trouble as workers live longer and states grapple to make up investment losses from the Great Recession. But Kentucky’s pension systems are among the worst funded in the country. The state is at least $38 billion short of the money it needs to pay benefits over the next three decades.
In April, Republican Gov. Matt Bevin signed a law that moved all new teacher hires into a hybrid pension plan. The law also restricted how teachers used sick days to calculate their retirement benefits and changed how the state pays off its pension debt.
Facing a tight deadline, state lawmakers introduced and passed the bill in one day near the end of the 2018 legislative session. The bill moved so quickly that a copy was not available for the public to read until the day after lawmakers had voted on it.
Teachers were outraged, thousands marched on the Capitol and schools in more than 30 districts closed. Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear sued, arguing the legislature violated the state Constitution by not voting on the proposal three times over three separate days. Bevin argued lawmakers did not need to do that because they had substituted the bill for an unrelated one that already had the required votes.
-snip-
Read more: https://apnews.com/e5cd28fb62e64f438acf150b74b429ca
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