Pension spiking for part-time legislators

The Bluegrass Institute has been the leading advocate for reforming the pension system for Kentucky legislators.

More than 80 lawmakers and candidates signed our Legislation Pension Transparency Pledge during the 2016 election promising to support making legislators’ pension benefits transparent to the public. Senate Bill 3 passed by an overwhelming majority in both the House and Senate during the first week of the historic legislative session in 2017.

With the curtains pulled back, it’s obvious that the use of reciprocity – allowing part-time legislators to get appointed to a cushy, six-figure-salary job that’s part of another system and use the highest three years of salary from that position to spike their legislative pension benefits -- is indefensible and must end.

It's time to end the practice of reciprocity, and while we're at it, let's go ahead and end retirement benefits for part-time state legislators.

After all, how many other part-time workers in Kentucky get such a pension?

Lexington Herald Leader: These part-time Kentucky legislators can collect public pensions of $50,000 or more