As the General Assembly considers options for pensions and quasi-governmental organizations in the special session, too often missing from the conversation are the potential harms to the 9,000 employees at these community mental health centers, health departments and more. All of them could have their pensions frozen under HB 1, including over 6,000 who were hired before 2014 and are protected by the inviolable contract.
As the graphic below shows, many of the employees at these organizations are middle age and mid-career, which exacerbates the harm of freezing their pensions. Each square in the graphic is an individual quasi employee, and if you hover over the graphic you can see their place of work, approximate age and years of service.
Mid-career employees stand to lose the majority of their pensions under HB 1. Offering them a new 401k-style defined contribution plan at the time their pension is frozen will be of little value in the short time period before they reach retirement age. Many mid-career workers stand to lose over $100,000 in net retirement income, and much more in some cases, because of HB 1.
