Over the course of several decades, more than one dozen local retirement systems have successfully petitioned the Legislature to establish some or all of their pension plans in state law. Commonly codified plan elements include: contribution rates, benefit levels, and board composition. By securing their provisions in state law, this select group of state-governed systems has erected a major obstacle to community-driven reform and effectively cemented a series of unsustainable practices.
Economy
Don’t Fence Me In: Lianne’s Story
Family, then finances—and opportunity. Those are what brought Lianne Halpern back to tiny Shamrock, a small, dusty stop on the famous Route 66 in the Texas panhandle. Like generations of Americans before, Lianne and her family had traveled west along that route in search of the golden promises of California. Lianne’s father worked in the...
January 29, 2026