Alaska: The state senate voted in early April to pass Senate Bill 141, which creates a defined contribution retirement system for new school employees and substantially increases the out of pocket expenses of current retirement system members.

California is considered by many to be the center of the fight to preserve public employee pension plans. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) recently announced that he will back off his effort to put pension privatization on the ballot. He also has stated that if he fails to reach an agreement with the state legislature, he will put pension privatization on the 2006 ballot.

Georgia: Legislators are investigating the possibility of starting a defined-contribution plan for state workers.

Illinois: Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) has proposed major changes to the state’s pension system that would reduce pension benefits for future state employees and reduce state contributions to the retirement systems by about $800 million.

Kansas: The relevant legislative committee has recommended an optional hybrid plan with a low 1.5 percent defined benefit formula with an optional defined-contribution component.

Maryland: A defined-contribution retirement bill for state employees has been introduced in the state legislature. This follows last year’s proposal from Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R) to shift the cost of teacher pensions to local governments from state government, which could force education employees into defined-contribution plans.

Minnesota: Legislators are reported likely to introduce a state employee defined-contribution bill this year, although it is considered unlikely to become law.

New Mexico: The legislature has endorsed a proposal that would require the $7.3 billion Educational Retirement Association to conduct a study on changing the teachers’ system to a defined-contribution plan.

New York City: In testimony before the New York Legislature early last year, Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) said a study by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, which proposed switching public employees to a defined-contribution plan, was “worth considering.” The media recently has carried stories about the costly public employee’s pension plans.

South Carolina: Gov. Mark Sanford (R.) announced in his state of the state address that he will introduce legislation to form a mandatory defined-contribution plan for public employees.

Virginia: A legislator introduced a bill to authorize a study on adding a new defined-contribution plan for public employees.