Treasurer Kennedy: "Judge made the right decision in striking down unconstitutional and unfair retirement benefit"

9/16/2014--2:47 PM

BATON ROUGE, LA - A state district judge has struck down as unconstitutional a law that created a special retirement benefit for just two people within State Police, State Treasurer John Kennedy reported Tuesday.

"This law was patently unconstitutional. Now it's null and void. This is a win for retirees as well as taxpayers across Louisiana," Treasurer Kennedy said.

In a court hearing attended by Kennedy, state District Judge Janice Clark found that the state constitution was not followed in enacting a law creating an enhanced retirement benefit for the head of Louisiana State Police and one other trooper.

One of Kennedy's objections was that the law would have drawn the enhanced benefit from an experience account that funds cost-of-living increases for retired state troopers and their families.

Kennedy testified that Louisiana's four retirement systems already have a UAL - unfunded, accrued liability - of $19 billion. The UAL is the gap between the systems' assets and liabilities. Louisiana has the sixth worst UAL in the nation. The new law would have worsened the state's financial problem.

"This was not about personalities. This was about fairness. Regardless of whether you're a prince or a pauper, you should not receive special treatment," Treasurer Kennedy said.

(C) THE DEAD PELICAN 2014