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.
Arizona Retirement Security Coalition Organizing to Defeat HCR 2040
In Arizona, pension advocates are working to stop HCR 2040, which would negatively impact teachers, weaken workers’ rights, and jeopardize the Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS). Arizona Education Association President Marisol Garcia released a statement in late February, saying in part: “As educators, we know that our working conditions are our students’ learning conditions. When something isn’t right, we come together and use our collective voices to push for the change that our students need. HCR 2040 is a direct attack on our freedom to do just that. This bill would ask voters to restrict our basic rights as Americans. It would block educators from meeting in their own schools to discuss workplace issues, override existing agreements between school districts and employees, and ban payroll deduction for union dues, while keeping it for insurance companies and other outside groups.”
The measure is being applauded by the billionaire-funded and California-based Freedom Foundation, as the bill heads to the Senate floor. Those pushing for the bill plan to circumvent a certain veto by labor-aligned Governor Katie Hobbs. If passed by the legislature, it would be sent to voters in the form of a ballot referral.
The ARSC and NPPC have launched an action to allow Arizonans to contact legislators and express their opposition to HCR 2040. Click here to take action!
Oklahoma Supreme Court Strikes Down Energy Discrimination Elimination Act
This week, the Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down the state’s Energy Discrimination Elimination Act, ruling that forcing pension divestment from certain financial firms violated fiduciary obligations to retirees. The court issued a permanent injunction preventing State Treasurer Todd Russ from applying the law to the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS), finding that the board is constitutionally required to act solely in the interest of beneficiaries. OPERS had warned that compliance would cost millions and disrupt investments, with more than 60% of assets at one point tied to firms targeted under the law.
“We conclude Energy Discrimination Elimination Act of 2022 is unconstitutional in its entirety when applied to (the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System),” wrote Justice James Edmondson in the majority opinion.
Meanwhile, investors led by the Oklahoma Firefighters Pension and Retirement System are suing billionaire and DOGE ringleader Elon Musk. On Tuesday, a federal judge cleared the way for former Twitter investors who accused Musk of fraud because he delayed disclosing his initial Twitter investment for too long to pursue their case as a class action.
Momentum Peaking for New York Tier 6 Campaign
Public servants in the Empire State are pushing for improved retirement security, with over 15,000 teachers and other government workers joining a massive rally in Albany last month. According to the NY AFL-CIO, “The fight to Fix Tier 6 is about fairness, equity, and a better retirement for the hard-working public servants who keep our communities running.”
The NY Central Labor Body notes 780,000 public workers are currently enrolled in Tier 6. The watered-down benefit levels require employees to work longer, contribute more from their paychecks, and receive far less secure benefits than previous pension tiers.
Among coalition allies, unions have varied priorities, but are united in the cause to Fix Tier 6. For teachers, the core goal is to lower the retirement age. Public Employees Federation Vice President Randi DiAntonio, representing a wide variety of public sector positions, told NY Focus that their top priority is lowering the amount taken out of workers’ paychecks. “Because of the affordability crisis, putting money into people’s pockets now makes a difference,” DiAntonio said.
New York public employees today pay far more for their pensions than their predecessors did, while receiving weaker benefits. In a statement to New York Focus, state AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento said that Tier 6 “has created a recruitment and retention crisis” due to “unprecedented mandatory overtime” and “constant hiring, training, and backfilling of vacant positions.”
Is Private Credit Approaching a Bank Run?
Yale Law School professor and president of the Yale Budget Lab, Natasha Sarin, published an opinion piece this week in the New York Times questioning whether private credit investors are waking up to warning signs and attempting to cash out.
Despite generating annual returns of roughly 10%, at least 8% of the investors in a flagship private credit fund managed by Blackstone have requested redemptions this year. In the first quarter, Sarin observed similar patterns at other major private credit managers, including Apollo Global Management, where redemption requests reached 11.2%, 11.6% at Ares Management, and 21.9% at Blue Owl Capital.
How did we get here? KKR data show a decline in bank lending since 2000, with private credit share increasing even more following the 2008 global financial crisis. Public pension funds are major backers of private credit, meaning workers’ retirement dollars are tied up in the same funds now facing rising redemption pressure. A report released last year by the National Institute for Retirement Security and insurance broker AON found that public pension plans have significantly diversified in this century. From 2001 to 2023, plans reallocated about 20 percent of their portfolios from public equity and fixed income into private equity, real estate, hedge funds, and other alternative investments. But now if liquidity tightens, as Sarin’s analysis suggests, or valuations reset, pension systems—not just wealthy investors—could bear the consequences.
As private credit has expanded, asset managers have moved beyond institutional investors like public pensions and begun targeting individuals directly. So far, that has largely meant high-net-worth investors—but that boundary is starting to blur. The White House wants to make it easier for 401(k) plans to invest in private credit, building on a prior executive order framed as “democratizing access to alternative assets.”
Skeptics of the move are calling it a bailout, suggesting private equity is looking to expand its investment base as their current clients head to the exits. Research from the Private Equity Stakeholder project found that funds marketed to everyday investors have measurably underperformed mainline stock market indexes while charging exorbitant fees.
A 2025 report from the American Federation of Teachers and the Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, “From Public Pensions to Private Fortunes,” finds that private equity has failed to consistently deliver the outsized returns used to justify pension fund investment—and warns that these same strategies could pose significant risks if extended to retail investors.
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.