NJEA Dues Clues

My local news sources occasionally cover the activities of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) though not too critically as for some of them the NJEA is a primary (if not sole) sponsor:

• insidernj
• newjerseyglobe
• njspotlight
• politiconj

which today led off with mentions of a northjersey.com (no NJEA ads visible there) story on the millions of dollars that the NJEA spent on Governor Murphy through a ‘dark money’ PAC.

This got me to wondering how and how much the NJEA comes up with to buy a governor and web ads. This is what I have so far:

PBGC Multiemployer Program Continues on a Path Toward Insolvency

On August 6, 2019, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) released its projections report for fiscal year (FY) 2018 and here are what Milliman considers the key takeaways as regards the financial condition of the Multiemployer Program.

Examining the Experiences of States that Closed Pension Plans

The National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS) was charged by their public employee union clients to come up with a report to try and scare states away from moving their employees from Defined Benefit to Defined Contribution plans. This is what they came up with and, after reviewing what presumably are the facts they want you to know, an honest interpretation arrives at exactly the opposite conclusion.

Rehabilitation For All

In their summary of the multiemployer bailout bill a consulting firm makes an interesting observation:

Some plans may find it advantageous to significantly shift their mortality, investment return, or industry level assumption in order to be in critical and declining status to be eligible for the loan program.

Here is what may happen.

Not Kicking On Multiemployer Plan Bailout

There is much that this National Review article got wrong about the imminent federal bailout of multiemployer plans (there are actually about 10 million participants) but most glaring:

The House of Representatives passed H.R. 397, the Rehabilitation for Multiemployer Pensions Act, before leaving town for summer recess. Proponents claim that this legislation would protect the pensions of over a million private employees whose pension funds have gone insolvent. In truth, all H.R. 397 does is kick the can down the road while saddling taxpayers with the cost in the meantime.

H.R. 397 has nothing to do with kicking any can down any road. It IS the solution and as long as these blank checks are good there is no more crisis – for participants in multiemployer plans and those who run them. But for everybody else:

State and Local Government Spending on Pensions

According to a USA Today story:

24/7 Wall St. reviewed annual pension fund contributions at the state and local level to identify the states that are spending the most to fund their residents’ retirement. States are ranked based on total 2017 pension fund contributions per current state and local government employment.

Since New Jersey was ranked only 14th worst I assumed that 24/7 Wall St. was missing something. After putting their data into a spreadsheet to see what they were using for total contributions, it turns out that they were.

I See a Bailout for Multiemployer Plans

H.R. 397, the bailout bill for multiemployer plans, is likely to become law and here is why.