California undermines pension reforms with benefit boost for first responders  reason.org/commentary/califo… Taxpayers to cover billions more in retirement benefits, mostly for the highest paid employees, not rank and file. Via @ReasonFdn @PensionZachary @longspring2711

Read the full article here: reason.org/commentary/illino…

Illinois: Don’t let Social Security safe harbor compliance become a blank check for Tier 2 benefit expansion - "...[e]ven granting that the salary-cap issue creates a genuine compliance risk, Rev. Proc. 91-40’s mechanical tests require only that the initial annual annuity meet a baseline comparable to Social Security’s Primary Insurance Amount. Nothing in the minimum benefit framework mandates shorter averaging periods, earlier unreduced retirement, richer COLAs, or any of the rollbacks of the 2011 pension reforms now on the table. Those are discretionary policy choices. Treating federal minimum benefit compliance as a blank check for undoing prior reforms  misuses a narrow regulatory concern to bypass the hard trade-offs that should govern public pension design..." via @ReasonFdn @ReasonPensions