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Kentucky Plan Would Strip Lawmakers Of Lucrative Benefits
By: Associated Press
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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – Some of Kentucky’s retired lawmakers living on public pensions of more than $100,000 a year would lose most of that money if a proposal from Republican Gov. Matt Bevin becomes law.
While some of Kentucky’s public pension systems are almost out of money, the state’s lawmakers are part of a separate system that is nearly fully funded. In 2005, lawmakers changed the law to let themselves combine their time in the state legislature with their salary at other public jobs.
Bevin’s proposal, endorsed by the legislature’s top two leaders, would re-calculate those pensions so they would be based solely on the lawmakers’ legislative pay, resulting in a big pay cut for some retired lawmakers.
National groups that monitor public pension legislation say Kentucky’s proposal has never been done before.