"Washington just became the first state in U.S. history to terminate a public employee pension plan." "I sacrificed my body and a good chunk of my life for our state, they committed to providing a benefit for me and raided it."

x.com ^ | May 6, 2026 | Shane Kidwell @shanerkidwell

[ransomnote]

Shane Kidwell
@shanerkidwell
·
5h
Washington just became the first state in U.S. history to terminate a public employee pension plan.

The plan belongs to retired police officers and firefighters. LEOFF Plan 1 was 160% funded as of June 2024 per the state's own actuarial valuation. It had not required a single contribution in 25 years. By 2029 it was projected to reach 200% funded with a $4.3 billion surplus.

The legislature terminated the plan, swept $3.9 billion, and is using $880 million of it to refill a rainy day fund it already drained to cover a deficit it created.

Days ago, retired first responders including former Congressman Dave Reichert sued the state to stop it. The bill passed the House 55-39 and was advanced out of Appropriations without a public hearing. Every yes vote was a Democrat. The governor signed it in April.

I publish the full research and sourced breakdowns on Substack every week. Search Shane Kidwell if you want the deeper dive.

I sacrificed my body and a good chunk of my life for our state, they committed to providing a benefit for me and raided it.

@GovBobFerguson

@komonews

@KIRO7Seattle

@KING5Seattle

@fox13seattle

@seattletimes

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TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: democrats; misleadingtitle; pension; retirement; theft

[ripnbang]

The plan was almost 200% funded WITHOUT employee contributions. In another time, I was a pension rep for my city’s fire/police pension plan. We contributed a % of pay commensurate with benefit changes made to the plan to benefit retirees. We always knew never get to a point where you don’t contribute to the plan, no matter how well investments do for this very reason. This Washington plan reportedly hadn’t required contributions for 25 years. That’s just a flashing neon sign to corrupt politicians to do exactly what they did

[ripnbang]

I beg to differ having contributed 6-9% of my pay every year for the length of my career.

[ripnbang]

This is true, which is why when funding got high, pension plans would try to increase benefits for plan members at no cost to the taxpayers…surplus funds from good investment years paid for it.

[daler]

And I’m guessing you were required to pour a huge chunk of your paycheck into that pension plan while you were working, and then saw your Social Security benefit significantly reduced when you retired.

And that’s not a wild guess.

[PeterPrinciple]

The only conclusion I have is that not enough grift was paid to politicians...................

[PeterPrinciple]

https://www.pbgc.gov/workers-retirees/learn/how-pension-plans-end

[Mean Daddy]

I worked for a private company who did away with their pension plan but I was also given a healthy chunk of $$ that I rolled over to my 401k. I suspect that’s what will happen. The Washington politicians better hope they’re never in need of those services.

[cherry]

I live here....there has been about 2 state wide elected officials that were pubs and one of them joined the buyden administration....

[No.6]

In past the police (see: UK; COVID) diligently cracked down on the people and sheltered leftist rioters on command in large part because the have families to care for and pensions to keep.

Even the tinpot dictators knew not to mess with the people who physically keep you in power.

[mass55th]

"And I’m guessing you were required to pour a huge chunk of your paycheck into that pension plan while you were working, and then saw your Social Security benefit significantly reduced when you retired."

When I began in Tier I of the pension plan in 1965, there was no mandatory contribution to the pension fund. After my break in service to have kids and stay home with them, once I went back to work, I ended up in Tier 3 of the same pension plan. 3% of my paycheck was taken every two weeks for the pension fund. Because we had already paid taxes on that amount when we earned it, we don't pay State taxes on our monthly pension...just Federal taxes.

The State Legislature of NY passed a social security offset Bill many years ago for uniformed Correctional employees so that our social security benefits would not be reduced upon retirement. I get the maximum allowed based on my earnings, and the State also reimburses me every month for my Medicare cost.

[Fledermaus]

But is it invested? Or does it go straight to the public fund? Are those invested?

Curious.

[Vaduz]

Agree karma

[ripnbang]

Invested into the fund, which were then invested with fund managers that were held accountable by the retirement board (hiring/firing) based on their performance. That 6-9 percent represented our “skin in the game” (albeit negligible in the grand scheme of things) and gave us more control than non-contributory systems that are solely run by elected officials where the employees have no say.

[econjack]

My point was that, putting the SS funds into gov’t bonds was a prudent thing to do when the alternative is to leave the cash idle and earn no interest. Later, they didn’t even use the slight of hand of buying Treasuries...they just put the funds into the revenue pool.

[EVO X]

My guess is Washington State canceled the pension fund, took the proceeds and moved it to a bigger fund. Cops and firefighters are not going to lose pensions.

[FreedomNotSafety]

No, the SS surplus always went into Treasuries and that didn’t stop until recently when receipts fell below expenditures.

The idea that the SS funds earned interest only extended the fiction that SS funds were invested. It is like making a loan to yourself and paying interest to yourself. A gimmick.