Welcome to this week’s roundup of pension news across the country. This week, we’re highlighting the continued fight for retirement security in Alaska, the importance of pensions during times of economic uncertainty, growing concern over Alaska’s public workforce crisis, and a major Tier 6 pension reform victory for New York educators and public employees.
NPPC Highlights
Alaska’s Road to Retirement Security: The Rise and Fall of HB 78
This week, we took a closer look at the rise and fall of Alaska’s HB 78, a historic pension restoration bill that advanced further than any similar effort since Alaska eliminated defined benefit pensions for new public employees nearly two decades ago.
Although Gov. Dunleavy vetoed the bill and the Legislature fell short of overriding the veto, HB 78 marked a major turning point in Alaska’s fight to restore retirement security. The bill elevated the state’s recruitment and retention crisis, highlighted the consequences of leaving many public workers without a pension or Social Security, and showed that momentum for pension restoration continues to grow.
Read the full blog to learn more about HB 78’s journey, the advocacy behind it, and what comes next for Alaska’s public employees.
Why Market Volatility Makes Pensions More Important
We also delved into why defined benefit pensions matter even more during times of economic uncertainty.
While 401(k)-style plans often leave workers to shoulder market risk on their own, pensions provide a steady, predictable income that retirees cannot outlive. The blog explains how pensions help protect workers from market swings, strengthen retirement security, and support public employers in recruiting and retaining essential workers.
Read the full blog to learn why market volatility is a reminder of the value of pensions.
State News
Alaska: Public Frustration Grows After HB 78 Veto
Following Gov. Dunleavy’s veto of HB 78, Alaskans continue to raise concerns about the state’s ability to address long-term challenges while rejecting bipartisan compromise. In a letter to the editor in the Anchorage Daily News, Tobias Schwoerer of Anchorage criticized what he described as a broader pattern of vetoes blocking compromise legislation, including public pension reform, election reform, school funding, education, and fiscal stability.
“Alaskans need stability,” Schwoerer wrote. “Schools need funding. Families and businesses need confidence that state government can function beyond political brinkmanship and ideological divide. A state cannot build a future one veto at a time.”
That frustration is closely tied to Alaska’s ongoing public workforce crisis. In a recent opinion piece, Corey Shepherd, a public school principal in rural Alaska, wrote that the governor’s veto of HB 78 sends the wrong message to educators, state troopers, firefighters, health care workers, and other public servants who are being asked to serve Alaska without the retirement security offered in most other states.
Shepherd described the reality facing educators in communities like Kotzebue, where recruitment and retention challenges have become a familiar part of every school year. Teachers arrive ready to serve, only to find a retirement system that offers neither a defined benefit pension nor Social Security. Many leave after only a few years, taking their experience, training, and community relationships with them.
That revolving door has real consequences. Schools lose trusted educators, remaining staff absorb larger workloads, and districts spend time and money recruiting and training replacements. The same pattern extends beyond education, affecting public safety, health care, and other essential services across Alaska.
HB 78 was designed to address one major piece of that puzzle: retirement security. Supporters argued that a well-designed defined benefit pension would help Alaska recruit and retain experienced public employees while reducing the long-term costs associated with turnover, overtime, relocation, training, and lost institutional knowledge.
As Shepherd wrote, “A strong retirement is a long-term workforce strategy.” Together, these pieces reflect a growing consensus among workers, advocates, and community members: Alaska cannot solve its workforce crisis without offering public employees a real reason to stay.
New York: Tier 6 Reforms Mark Major Step Forward for Educators and Public Workers
In New York, lawmakers moved forward with significant Tier 6 pension reforms as part of the state budget, including a major change for teachers and teaching assistants.
Under the plan, Tier 6 educators with 30 years of service will be able to retire at age 58 instead of 63. The reforms also reduce pension contribution rates for many other public workers across several salary bands and increase the overtime cap used in final average salary calculations.
The changes begin to roll back pension reductions enacted more than a decade ago under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Those changes increased employee contributions, raised retirement ages, and reduced benefits for newer public workers. Labor unions have long argued that Tier 6 made public employment less attractive and contributed to workforce challenges across the state.
Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, called the reforms a major step toward correcting the unfairness of Tier 6, while noting that advocates will continue to push for further improvements in future legislative sessions.
Gov. Kathy Hochul also linked the changes to workforce needs, citing shortages in education, health care, corrections, and other public service roles. As she noted, New York must be able to attract and retain the workers needed to deliver essential services.
Not everyone supported the final deal. Fiscal watchdogs, including the Citizens Budget Commission, raised concerns about the cost to local governments and school districts. Still, for public workers who have spent years organizing around Tier 6 reform, the budget agreement represents meaningful progress and proof that sustained advocacy can lead to real improvements in retirement security.
Be sure to check back next Friday for the latest news in the fight for a secure retirement! For now, sign up for NPPC News Clips to receive daily pension news from across the country directly to your inbox.