NH Law Lets Teachers Delay Retirement

May 23, 2008 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - New Hampshire Governor John Lynch has signed into law a bill designed to protect the state from an onslaught of teacher retirements and shore up the underfunded pension system.

The measure permits teachers and a small number of municipal workers to put off retirement for a year and still qualify for a health insurance subsidy on retirement. An Associated Press news report said affected employees must be eligible to retire and collect the medical subsidy as of July 1 to qualify under the bill (See NH Retiree Health Subsidy Subject of Cost-cutting Measures ).

According to the news report, aside from attempting to head off a flood of retirements before July, the new law is one of several that seek to restructure the underfunded retirement system. State lawmakers face a May 30 deadline to hammer out an agreement for the pension program that is short more than $2.7 billion.

Pension reform proposals include shifting $250 million from an account used to pay for cost-of-living increases into the main pension fund, and increasing the age and years of service requirement for retirement of police and firefighters (See New Hampshire Lawmakers Debate Sweeping Pension Reform ).

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