Tells Legislature to fix it
A Maricopa County Superior Court has ruled a state law capping employer contributions rates to retirement funds for judges and elected officials is unconstitutional.
Judge Timothy Thomason said it’s up to Arizona lawmakers to find a solution.
The law in question, adopted and signed in 2013, caps the contribution rate the state provides to pensions for elected officials at 23.5 percent. It has not been, as the Legislature argued, a “benefit” to state employees, the judge wrote.
Instead, the size of the state’s contribution for pensions has left the retirement fund for elected officials, better known as EORP, in an unsustainable position.
Essentially, the cap of the employer contribution rate has contributed to a shortfall in the pension funds for EORP beneficiaries. Colin Campbell, an attorney for the two retired judges who filed the lawsuit, said the rates set by the Legislature in 2013 were “bleeding the fund dry.”
Campbell said officials estimate the fund would run out in 10 years without a change in the state’s contribution.
Information from Arizona Capitol Times
