Industry News

On April 23, 2025, the National Association of State Retirement Administrators (NASRA) released its report, Understanding Retirement Benefits for State Legislators. The report provides a brief overview and listing of retirement benefits for legislators in every state.

According to the report, “For most public employees, the type of retirement plan that is provided and requirements for participating are largely consistent across states. Retirement benefits available to state legislators, by contrast, vary widely. In particular, the type of retirement plan that is available to legislators and the standards for legislator participation differ markedly relative to other groups of public employees.”

The key findings include:

• In 10 states, legislators are not offered retirement benefits;
• In the remaining 40 states, 50% of legislators can opt of participating in their employer-sponsored retirement plan; and
• Of the 40 states that offer a retirement benefit to legislators, 18 states offer a defined benefit (DB) plan, eight offer a defined contribution (DC) plan, six offer a hybrid plan, and eight offer a choice of either a DB or DC plan or a hybrid or a DC plan.

The report is available here.