I guarantee that while Washington may be the first state to do this, it won’t be the last.
NYChitty announced a while ago they are looking to delay payments to or possibly raid public pension plans to fund ayatollah mamdani’s socialist plans...i think its great- this is what they voted for!!!
https://marypatcampbell.substack.com/p/new-york-city-pension-watch-hey-what
I see it going the other way.
States could seize property under eminent domain and give it to a developer who promised to better tax yields. Sounds like a plan and what could go wrong?
Well, it turns out that once buyers calculated the risk of seizure into the costs, property values tumbled. No one wanted to take the risk in a seize-property state. Municipalities very quickly had to put laws in place that made eminent domain illegal.
Expect the same with any state that seizes pension funds. It's a one-time theft. After that, every employee and potential employee goes mercenary and the state finds itself unable to fill positions. In this case, police and fire are very bad ones not to be able to fill.
The state is going to see massive departures of employees and not the ones you'd hope would leave, while few qualified candidates will apply for open positions. Some of those positions are required by law and by contract. Good luck getting a licensed engineer to work for the state. Who will then sign off on engineering contracts? The state will beforced to undo the damage, including codifying into law that the pensions can't be seized.