Welcome to the latest edition of This Week in Pensions! We have gathered the best stories about pensions and retirement security from the previous week. This is the news you need to know in the fight for a secure retirement.
State News
Teachers Fight to Restore Member Representation on the Ohio STRS Board
Cleveland.com reported that Ohio teachers, retirees, and public-sector unions are supporting House Bill 719, legislation to restore seven elected members and four appointed members on the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio board.
For years, working teachers and retirees elected a majority of the board overseeing the $104 billion system. But lawmakers quietly changed that structure in the final days of the 2025 budget process, reducing elected representation from seven seats to three, increasing appointees from four to eight, and even barring elected members from serving as chair or vice chair.
A Franklin County court has temporarily blocked the change while a constitutional challenge moves forward, meaning the seven elected members remain in place for now. HB 719, sponsored by state Rep. Jim Hoops, would permanently restore the 7–4 configuration.
The Ohio Public Pension Coalition held a virtual event Thursday to submit testimony supporting the bill. OPPC Coordinator Paul Peters noted that the restructuring was inserted near the end of the budget process, leaving workers and retirees no opportunity to testify.
The workers who contribute to STRS and depend on it in retirement deserve a real voice in how the system is governed. As retired teacher Mary Binegar told Cleveland.com, “It’s very much different when you have a stake in the game, when your livelihood depends on what happens and what the decisions are made by that board.”
Tamar Gray, who recently retired after 35 years as a music teacher, said lawmakers had taken something “steady and dependable” and made it “precarious.”
Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper defended members who have challenged STRS leadership, saying that people using their voices to be heard is central to democracy. She also pointed out that the board member involved in the most controversial effort to steer billions of dollars toward inexperienced investment managers was not elected by teachers or retirees. He was appointed.
The turmoil at STRS cannot justify stripping workers of their representation. If anything, it demonstrates why teachers and retirees need a stronger voice over the pension fund built from their service and deferred compensation. Moving power from elected members to gubernatorial appointees does not depoliticize the board. It simply shifts control away from the people whose retirement security is at stake.
Garden State Retirees Pushing Aggressively for #COLANOW
According to New Jersey Digest, “The #COLANOW movement has found an unlikely home in the New Jersey Assembly Republican caucus.”
Assemblyman Alex Sauickie introduced Assembly Bill 1168 to restore cost-of-living adjustments for Police and Firemen’s Retirement System members and State Police retirees who have been out of the workforce for at least 10 years. The proposal does not include retired teachers, who also lost their adjustments when the program was suspended. The bipartisan bill has 17 Republican cosponsors, along with 29 Democrats.
“Our retired police officers and firefighters spent their careers protecting our families, our neighborhoods, and our communities,” Sauickie wrote on social media. “They should not be left behind while the cost of everything continues to climb.”
In their own social media post, the New Jersey State Retired Police and Firemen’s Association notes, “We have been battling 15 years trying to get COLA restored to our members. This is something that was earned and promised to us.” The Association implored allies to use the specific words and hashtag, “#COLA NOW!”
New Jersey Sells Stake in GEO Group, Holds Palantir
The New Jersey Department of the Treasury told NJ Spotlight News this week that their pension fund sold more than $800,000 in Geo Group bonds earlier this year. Geo Group is the private company operating Newark’s controversial federal ICE detention center.
On the other hand, the nearly $85 billion fund remains invested in another major ICE contractor, with its stake in publicly traded Palantir Technologies valued at more than $100 million.
“Our state’s public investments, including the retirement savings of public workers, cannot come at the expense of New Jersey’s immigrant families,” wrote Congressman Rob Menendez in February. I urge the state to give full and fair consideration to the constitutional and safety implications of any continued investment in Palantir.”
Bills in both chambers of the New Jersey Legislature would require the pension fund to divest from companies whose government contracts or business practices violate personal data privacy in efforts to determine immigration status. The legislation does not name any specific firm directly, but its sponsors have pointed to concerns surrounding the company as a reason for the proposal.
Palantir did not respond to a request for comment from NJ Spotlight.
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