Lawsuit filed against new state retirement plan

An organization representing Louisiana’s retired state employees today filed a legal challenge against Gov. Bobby Jindal’s new pension plan for future rank-and-file state workers. The Retired State Employees Association of Louisiana claims the law, pushed by Jindal and passed earlier this year, is unconstitutional because it didn’t get a two-thirds vote in the state House of Representatives. The lawsuit was filed in Baton Rouge district court, according to Frank Jobert, executive director of the organization. “If legislators think they can pass laws in violation of the constitution or state statutes, we don’t know where that line will be drawn,” Jobert says in a statement. “It’s not just a retirement issue.” The bill creates an investment account similar to a 401(k) plan for state employees hired after July 1, 2013, instead of a monthly retirement payment based on salary and years of employment. Louisiana is set to become the first state in the nation to provide only the “cash balance” retirement plan for certain employees. Passage of the bill was Jindal’s lone significant victory on the retirement front during the session, after lawmakers refused most of his package of proposals to change benefits for existing workers. But the retired employees group says any provision involving members of a public retirement system that is deemed to carry a price tag requires a two-thirds vote for passage, a hurdle the bill didn’t reach in the House. The Associated Press has the full story here.