From the KDP: What They’re Saying: Bevin’s Pension Disaster Puts Retirement for Workers at Risk
Kentucky Democratic Party
A week after the legislature passed Governor Matt Bevin’s harmful pension overhaul, reports and public employees are raising the alarm about how the new law threatens the retirement future for thousands of Kentuckians.
In the meantime, Bevin is refusing to consider expanded gaming as a source of new revenue, with inflammatory comments today, “Every night somewhere in America somebody takes their life in a casino because they’ve wasted the last semblance of dignity and hope that they had.”
Bevin’s running mate, State Sen. Ralph Alvarado, is also trying to claim the state wasn’t responsible for the workers who might lose their pensions, stating: “They’re not government employees.”
“Kentuckians who have worked hard and served our commonwealth deserve the secure retirement they were promised,” said Marisa McNee, spokesperson for the Kentucky Democratic Party. “But Matt Bevin is once again showing that he doesn’t care what happens to workers and their families. Kentuckians want a governor who will protect their hard-earned retirement, not pull the rug out from under them.”
Here’s what they’re saying about how Bevin’s overhaul threatens pensions:
“Thousands of KY public workers face "uncertain future.” - Lexington Herald Leader
“And now older workers are at risk of having their pension benefits frozen if the health departments they work for choose to exit the pension system under Bevin’s bill.” - WFPL
“We all understood the pay would be low. But you don’t take a state job for the pay. The good pay is in the private sector. What we were promised was a secure retirement we didn’t have to worry about.” - J Smith, a local health department inspector in Garrard County. “
“We’re going to be losing a lot of experienced people. There is going to be a significant drain from the workforce. Who will help the families we’re working with? But my great anxiety is that we just don’t know what’s happening to us next.” - Chris Whitsell, who runs a local mental health nonprofit in Somerset