FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 26, 2025
CONTACT:
Carter Dougherty
carter@ourfinancialsecurity.org
State Policymakers and Labor Leaders Urge States to Deploy Their Pension Power To Grow a Strong and Fair Economy
Washington, D.C. – In a webinar hosted by Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund (AFREF) and The Horizon Project, leading labor and state officials laid out strategies to protect public pensions from federal attacks and deploy state pension power to grow a strong economy for retirees, workers, and the public.
The discussion followed AFREF’s recently released policy roadmap, which provides detailed strategies for state leaders to defend pensions and expand their ability to invest in ways that benefit workers and the public.
Arizona State Senator Lauren Kuby described the ongoing attacks against public pensions in her state, and also urged a better way forward. “We’d actually like to be proactive in this space and focus on ways we can spark investment,” she noted. “And we know Arizona, of all the states in the union, has benefited from the IRA. We’ve seen incredible growth in jobs in the clean energy economy. We need to ensure that growth is consistent and strong, and that we set a stable message out to the companies that we work with.”
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten emphasized that public pensions are key to retirement security and warned against short-term investment strategies that overlook economic sustainability. “If you looked at [investments] through the sustainability and the American Dream standard, or long-term economic viability for the working class as well as the investment class — then all of a sudden, issues around private equity, issues around climate sustainability, issues around workers being able to make a living wage would be a lot different,” she noted.
Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman highlighted the role of state financial officers in safeguarding pensions from federal overreach and ensuring investments account for financial risks like climate change, labor practices, and governance. “When I think about risk and about making sure that we are securing our $70 billion in pension funds for over 415,000 state retirees—who are my constituents because I’m a Maryland Comptroller—I think about making sure we’re taking into account all different types of risk,” she said.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison argued that pension funds belong to the people, and state officials—elected to protect those funds—must push back against federal interference. “It’s the money of the people of our state,” he said. “Who’s Congress to tell a teacher who has worked 30 years teaching kindergarten what she should do? She elected us to be on this board. We’re fiduciaries. We have a responsibility.”
Natalia Renta, Associate Director of Corporate Governance and Power at AFREF and author of a new policy roadmap, provided insights on potential paths forward, noting that “the stakes are high, and there’s a lot for state policymakers and pension officials to do to both protect public pensions and also to use state pension power to grow a strong economy for retirees, workers, and the public.”
Panelists closed the discussion with a call to action, urging both policymakers and grassroots advocates to stay engaged in the fight to protect public pensions. “Whether they voted for Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, people in communities want to have a better life,” said Weingarten. “They want the prices of eggs to go down. They want their level of income to go up. They want to make sure they have decent housing, decent schools that are well funded. And so that is what my call to action is — we need to show up in our communities and fight for what we need to fight for locally.”
A recording of the webinar is available here
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