Oregon Candidate Proposes K Plan for New Public Hires

The proposal from candidate Kevin Mannix, which mirrors similar efforts in other states around the country, calls for a set amount of public money to be paid into the accounts, according to the Associated Press.

Mannix also said he would not take away current employees’ traditional pensions under the Public Employees Retirement System. Instead, he would encourage them to switch to the defined contribution style plan through incentives.

With many states grappling with budget shortfalls and looking to the potential savings of a defined benefit to defined contribution migration, public employees groups have accused officials of shortchanging public employees who have counted on guaranteed pensions (See Running the Fund: Taking It Personal ).

The public employee groups have mounted a counterattack on the efforts to move workers to a DC plan by offering local groups national legal and marketing support.