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.
Alaska Passes Historic Pension Legislation
Close observers of the United States public pensions landscape know Alaska is the only state without a defined benefit pension retirement plan for firefighters, law enforcement, and educators. This hasn’t always been the case. Alaska created its teachers’ pension before statehood and launched the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) in 1961 to extend retirement security to other public workers. The plan operated until 2005, when Senate Bill 141 was passed, closing the defined benefit (DB) plan to new members effective July 1, 2006, offering a defined contribution (DC) plan instead. To make matters worse, Alaska public workers do not receive Social Security benefits.
Now, for the first time in 20 years, legislation restoring a DB pension for Alaska public servants has passed the House and Senate. HB 78 will now be sent to Governor Mike Dunleavy for consideration.
The legislative solution is well justified. The lack of a pension for public employees has had dire consequences across The Last Frontier, as NPPC has documented. Fairbanks, the state’s second-largest city in the state, was forced to abandon police patrols for four hours every day due to inadequate staffing. In late 2024, Pro Publica reported that defendants in 930 Anchorage misdemeanor cases – including domestic violence and DUI charges – were released due to an overwhelmed court system and chronic shortage of prosecutors. The Alaska Educator Recruitment and Retention Center reported that 345 teaching jobs were vacant in September 2025, at the beginning of the school year.
Under state law, the Governor has 15 days, excluding Sundays, to either sign the legislation, veto it, or take no action and let it become law automatically.
Anti-labor Ballot Referendum in Arizona Could Jeopardize Retirement Security
This week, the Public News Service reported on anti-labor legislation in Arizona. Pension advocates are concerned the proposed ballot initiative, HCR 2040, could dramatically expand penalties against teachers involved in organized workplace actions, including the potential loss of state pension benefits. The Arizona proposal follows the 2018 “Red for Ed” teacher walkout, when tens of thousands of educators rallied for higher pay and increased school funding.
Linda Somo, President of the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, told PNS the measure would restrict educators’ ability to meet on school property, prohibit payroll deduction for union dues, and punish even perceived coordination of work stoppages. It would also punitively rob union organizers of their pension benefits as a penalty for participating in a work stoppage.
“The worst thing, in my opinion,” said Somo, “is it would take away the rights of any individual who participated in any way in a work stoppage or a strike, and would take away their pension.”
In March, Arizona Education Association President Marisol Garcia told PBS Arizona the ballot referendum proposal is retaliatory.
“We have serious problems and instead of spending time on those issues, healthcare, affordability, what is happening to our people who are unhoused, transportation, the funding that goes into education,” Garcia said. “They are spending time with political games like this that do no service to people in Arizona.”
If passed by the Arizona Senate, the proposal would go directly to voters as a ballot initiative in November.
New Jersey Pension Fund: Iran War Sparked Market Turbulence
State pension officials in New Jersey warned Wednesday that market instability tied to the overseas conflict in Iran has begun eroding investment gains. Preliminary figures presented during a public meeting of the New Jersey State Investment Council showed pension fund returns for the current fiscal year had fallen to just over 6% through the end of March, down from more than 10% at the close of February, pending final audit review.
According to NJ Spotlight News, Shoaib Khan, Director of the NJ Division of Investment, told council members, “Given the events around the world, and more specifically, the Middle East, we thought it made sense to at least touch on the market environment, as it was, pre-conflict. We can see the adverse reaction to the Middle East conflict and, obviously, the impact (on) the supply of oil is a major concern.”
With ongoing tariffs, oil prices increasing, conflicts worldwide, and intermittent shutdowns of federal agencies, market turbulence will likely continue.
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.