COLUMBUS —
A package of bills aimed at shoring up Ohio’s five public pension funds with increased contributions among some and higher retirement ages cleared the state Legislature on Wednesday in a rare showing of bipartisanship during an election year.
The legislation will affect almost 1.8 million Ohioans who are covered by the five funds: Ohio Public Employee Retirement System, State Teachers Retirement System, School Employees Retirement System, Ohio Highway Patrol Retirement System and the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund.
Republican Gov. John Kasich will sign the package into law, his office said.
Ohio’s pension funds are in danger of becoming insolvent if adjustments aren’t made. Policymakers, retiree groups, government employers and others have wrestled over the fixes for four years.
The pension bills include requests by the funds to raise premiums, lower payouts and tighten eligibility requirements for affected teachers, police and other public workers.
After becoming law, the measures would take effect Jan. 7. Employee contribution rates would be gradually increased by increments from 10 percent of salary to 12.25 percent for those belonging to the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund, and from 10 percent to 14 percent for members of the State Teachers Retirement System.
Members of OPERS and the School Employees Retirement System would not see an increase in contributions. The Ohio Highway Patrol Retirement System board could adjust member contributions from 10 percent to up to 14 percent of salary.
Republican Rep. Kirk Schuring, chairman of a legislative panel studying the pensions’ fiscal health, called the bills the “most significant reform measures” in decades.
Schuring said that while some may view the changes as painful, they will help preserve benefits for current and future retirees.
Republican Senate President Tom Niehaus and Senate Democratic Leader Eric Kearney co-sponsored the bills, which passed the Senate in May.
World, nation, state
Public pension changes clear Ohio Legislature
- World, nation, state
-
-
Mental illness in youth is a common struggle
Go to a busy street in your community and count the next 25 adolescents who walk, bike, skateboard, stroll or saunter past. Odds are that two of those 25 kids (8.3 percent to be exact) would own up to having experienced 14 or more days in the last month that he or she considered “mentally unhealthy,” according to a comprehensive report on the mental health of American youth issued this week.
-
Imprisoned Ohio Amish complain about schooling
Some of the Amish sentenced in beard-cutting attacks on fellow Amish in Ohio are upset with federal prison education requirements.
-
Feces contaminates 58 percent of public swimming pools
Human feces taints more than half of public swimming pools, a finding U.S. health officials are using to urge better personal hygiene as the summer months approach.
-
Record Powerball jackpot inspires office pools
In workplaces across the nation, Americans are inviting their colleagues to chip in $2 for a Powerball ticket and a shared daydream.
-
Dark, massive asteroid to fly by Earth May 31
It’s 1.7 miles long. Its surface is covered in a sticky black substance similar to the gunk at the bottom of a barbecue. If it impacted Earth it would probably result in global extinction. Good thing it is just making a flyby.
-
Afghanistan: Bomb kills 15, including 6 Americans
A suicide car bombing tore through a U.S. convoy in Kabul on Thursday, killing at least 15 people including six Americans in a blast so powerful it rattled the other side of the Afghan capital. U.S. soldiers rushed to help, some wearing only T-shirts or shorts under their body armor.
-
Child mental health disorders rising, report finds
Up to one in five American youngsters - some 7 million to 12 million by one estimate - experience a mental health disorder each year, according to a new report billed as the first comprehensive look at the mental health status of American children.
-
Map of hateful tweets shows hotspots are mostly in eastern half of U.S.
Tweets containing hateful words are coming in larger proportions from people living in the eastern half of the United States, according to a new map that tracked hate speech on Twitter.
-
Wet spring heightens Lake Erie algae worries
Officials are concerned that the wet Ohio spring will again bring toxic algae problems back to Lake Erie.
-
Obama tries to regain control amid controversies
Under mounting pressure, President Barack Obama on Wednesday released a trove of documents related to the Benghazi attack and forced out the top official at the Internal Revenue Service following revelations that the agency targeted conservative political groups. The moves were aimed at halting a perception spreading among both White House opponents and allies that the president has been passive and disengaged as controversies consume his second term.
- More World, nation, state Headlines
-
Mental illness in youth is a common struggle
