NCPERS News Clips

April 9, 2013

News Clips for April 9th, 2013

U.S. News

• NCPERS Video Blog!--Public- Private Partnerships
  Hank Kim discusses public- private partnership news from March 28th & 29th-- the Center for American Progress held a session on pension plans and unions investing in infrastructure, while President Obama went to Miami, advocating for a public- private partnership with the Port of Miami.
• We don't need to jettison pension plan that isn't broken
  (Editorial) Washington- A Senate bill introduced this year to change the state's public employee pension plan with a defined-contribution plan added a new worry. That measure is not off the table yet, and could resurface in the Republican-controlled Senate budget expected this week.
• Ruling Sets Up Pension Battle in Bankrupt City
  A federal bankruptcy judge ruled on Monday that the city of Stockton, Calif., was eligible for court protection from its creditors, clearing the way for a battle over whether public workers' pensions can be cut when the city they work for goes bankrupt.
• A Reporters' Guide to the "State Policy Network" -- the Right-Wing Think Tanks Spinning Disinformation and Pushing the ALEC Agenda in the States
  In this new online resource, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD, the publisher of the award-winning ALECexposed.org investigation) documents the more than $80 million that right-wing billionaires and corporations are spending each year to fuel Tracie Sharp's State Policy Network (SPN) and its 59 state "think tank" members, along with the controversial Heartland Institute, a SPN ally like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), that tries to change both state and federal law.
• Rhode Island Public Pension 'Reform' Looks More Like Wall Street Feeding Frenzy
  According to Institutional Investor, Rhode Island Treasurer, Gina Raimondo is at work solving the nation's retirement dilemma, showing how tough public pension reforms can pay fiscal and political dividends. Don't believe a word of it.
• Federal judge stops Flint emergency manager's cuts to retiree benefits
  A federal judge has issued a temporary injunction against the city of Flint that will keep the city from cutting the health benefits for city retirees.
• Seven Counties Services seeks bankruptcy protection to shed escalating pension costs
  Seven Counties Services, Louisville's community mental health center, is filing for bankruptcy protection today to seek relief from escalating pension costs that otherwise will crowd out programs and drive the group into financial ruin within 18 months, according to center officials.
• Analysis: Illinois pension fix faces political, legal hurdles
  Illinois lawmakers begin a two-month push on Monday to enact major pension reform, under pressure from taxpayers, workers, business groups and bond investors to fix the worst-funded state pension system in the United States.
• Ky. governor signs pension reform legislation
  Kentucky governor signs legislation reforming state's financially troubled pension system
• Moody's says N.Y. pension smoothing plan 'a stopgap with long-term risks'
  Moody's Investors Services warned Monday that the state's new pension-smoothing plan is a “a stopgap with long-term risks” that could endanger the state’s pension fund and the credit of local governments.
• GASB changes to boost pressure for pension reform, Fitch report says
  Impending changes in Governmental Accounting Standards Board standards in 2014 and 2015 should increase public pressure on decision-makers to reform state and local government pension plans, according to a report from Fitch Ratings.
• A Bankruptcy, and Now a Pension Test
  Stockton, Calif., has been allowed into Chapter 9 bankruptcy.
• Puerto Rico overhauls public pension fund with new law
  An overhaul of Puerto Rico's cash-strapped public pension fund was signed into law Thursday by Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla, according to a statement on the commonwealth's website.