News from Jones Street

August 28, 2026
RGEA’s Work Doesn’t End When Legislators Leave Raleigh

Some weeks at the General Assembly feel like everything is happening at once. Bills are moving, committees are meeting, budgets are changing by the hour, and everyone is waiting to see what makes it across the finish line. Then there are weeks like this one. The budget has passed, lawmakers have largely gone home, and the next real budget cycle will not begin until January. Jones Street is quiet. For RGEA, however, quiet does not mean the work has stopped. In many ways, it simply means a different kind of work begins.

One of the biggest responsibilities right now is making sure RGEA members understand exactly what this year’s budget delivered and what it did not. State retirees will receive a 2.5 percent one-time bonus, and RGEA worked relentlessly to secure it. As North Carolina’s statutes do not mandate post-retirement supplements like COLAs and bonuses, it does provide the legislature with the power to award them for State employees, so this year’s outcome was never guaranteed, and there were points in the budget process when retirees could easily have been left with nothing.  We are glad RGEA’s efforts will ensure State retirees receive some additional benefit money in their September 25 distribution, but we are also clear-eyed about its limitations. Our members need more than occasional one-time payments. A true Cost of Living Adjustment remains our primary retirement benefit goal, and we will continue pressing for one because it is the only way to permanently protect the purchasing power of a retiree’s monthly benefit.

The obstacle is not a lack of advocacy, effort, or urgency. It is a combination of very real political and financial barriers. Some lawmakers in leadership still believe the State’s obligation ends with fully funding the pension system, and they remain resistant, if not completely opposed, to recurring COLA increases for retirees. At the same time, the cost of a true COLA has increased with an expanding retiree base. A 1% recurring COLA for State retirees now costs more than $600 million. This allocation would nearly rival the $700 million the 2026 budget dedicated to Hurricane Helene Recovery. That is why a one-time bonus and a true COLA are fundamentally different. A bonus offers temporary relief, but a COLA permanently increases a retiree’s monthly benefit and thus becomes part of the pension system’s ongoing obligation for defined fifteen-year period. That is a much harder fight, but it is still the fight we intend to keep having, though there is a clearer path…

In the U.S., majority of pensions meet their obligations and deliver COLAs more often than not. Over two-thirds of public pensions have automatic COLAs worked into their pension formulas and deliver COLAs.  That reality is why RGEA has spent so much time working on a better and more efficient possible path toward future COLAs: investment performance. We supported and helped secure passage of HB 506, the State Investment Modernization Act, which created the new Investment Authority Board. The goal is straightforward. North Carolina needs its pension assets working as effectively as possible for the people who earned those benefits. We have already seen encouraging signs, with the pension fund finishing calendar year 2025 with investment returns of more than 13 percent. Continued strong performance could create opportunities for future true COLAs for both State and Local retirees without relying entirely on the annual budget process.

That investment work is especially important for Local Government retirees, whose post-retirement benefit increases are not determined by the State legislature in the same way as TSERS benefits. For them, strong investment performance and sound pension policy remain paramount to the future value of their pensions. That is why our work doesn’t end when legislators leave Raleigh. The October and January Trustee meetings are the two most important meetings of the year for local government retirees, as this is when the Trustees receive the actuarial forecast and decide on any post-retirement increases. At this time, things look optimistic, with a string of double-digit returns vastly improving the pension position on its unfunded liability, as reported by the Department of the Treasurer.

 While the Legislative Building may be quieter right now, RGEA is not. We are answering member questions, meeting with policymakers, monitoring pension and health benefit issues, evaluating what worked this session, and preparing for the opportunities and challenges ahead in January. The votes may be over for now, but the work of protecting retirement security never really stops.

August 21, 2026
Quiet Does Not Mean Finished

For the last few weeks in what feels like a very long time, Jones Street is quiet.

After months of budget negotiations, committee meetings, late nights, and unexpected twists, lawmakers have left Raleigh and returned to their districts. Legislative leaders have indicated that they do not expect to take up substantive votes before the November election. But as we have learned throughout this session, quiet does not necessarily mean finished.

Governor Josh Stein recently vetoed two bills passed during the General Assembly’s final days in Raleigh: House Bill 958, Election Law Changes, and House Bill 377, 2026 Court Changes. Those vetoes now raise an obvious question. Will lawmakers wait until after the election to consider them, or will they return to Raleigh sooner? The answer is that they can.

When the General Assembly adjourned on August 6, lawmakers approved a schedule that allows both chambers to reconvene on August 31, September 28, and October 26, all before Election Day. During each of those sessions, the legislature is specifically permitted to consider overriding gubernatorial vetoes.

That does not mean an override vote will happen. Legislative leaders could decide to leave the vetoes alone until after the election. But the door is open, and that means RGEA will continue watching closely.

It is also worth remembering that the 2025 Regular Session is not technically over. Under the adjournment resolution, lawmakers have additional return dates after the election, and the session does not finally adjourn until December 18. In other words, there are still several opportunities for action before this unusually long legislative session is officially put to bed.

For retirees, the biggest legislative issue of the summer has already been resolved. After a long wait, lawmakers passed the state budget, which included a 2.5 percent one-time bonus for TSERS retirees. While RGEA will always continue advocating for a true recurring COLA, securing that bonus was an important victory for state government retirees and a reminder that persistent advocacy matters.

The quieter months ahead also give us an opportunity to shift some of our attention away from the Legislative Building and toward lawmakers in their home districts. Elections have a way of bringing legislators closer to the people they represent, and RGEA will continue using that opportunity to remind them that retiree issues do not disappear when the General Assembly is out of town.

There may not be much activity inside the chambers right now, but that does not mean our work stops. We will continue monitoring the vetoes, talking with legislators, preparing for the next session, and making sure North Carolina’s public retirees remain part of the conversation. For now, Jones Street is quiet. But quiet and finished are two very different things.

August 7, 2026
The Last Votes Before the Votes

For a legislature that has spent much of 2026 coming and going, this week may have marked the last time North Carolina House members pushed their voting buttons before voters push theirs in November.

The House returned to Raleigh this week for what is expected to be one of its final voting sessions before the election, and lawmakers managed to produce both action and inaction, each of which may prove politically significant.

First came House Bill 958, a wide-ranging elections bill that would shorten the early voting period from 17 days to 10 days for primaries, certain special elections, runoffs and municipal elections. Importantly, the change would not apply to the November general election. The bill also gives the State Auditor a new role in post-election reviews. Under the legislation, the Auditor would conduct audits of county election systems after elections are certified, with counties selected randomly and every county subject to review at least once every six years. Those audits could examine voting equipment, ballot records, voter rolls, absentee and provisional ballots, chain of custody procedures and other parts of election administration.

Supporters say the changes would strengthen election security and accountability. Opponents argue the bill would unnecessarily reduce voting access and place too much authority over election administration in the hands of the State Auditor. Governor Josh Stein has already indicated that he plans to veto the measure.

Then came the issue that produced the real fireworks.

House Bill 328 would dramatically restrict intoxicating hemp products currently sold across North Carolina. The proposal drew an unusual show of force from supporters, including Republican lawmakers, sheriffs, local law enforcement officials, prosecutors and the State Bureau of Investigation. They argued that the state’s current laws have failed to keep pace with increasingly potent products that are widely available and, in some cases, marketed in ways that appeal to children.

On the other side, hemp business owners, employees and customers packed the Legislative Building to warn that the proposal would wipe out much of a rapidly growing industry. Opponents said they support age restrictions, testing and regulation, but not what they view as an effective ban on almost all hemp products currently being sold.

And then, after all that buildup, the House did not take up the bill.

 July 31, 2026
July 30 LGERS/TSERS Trustees Meeting: Strong Earnings Report and Customer Service Improvements on the Way

The LGERS and TSERS Trustees met on July 30 sharing a number of updates relevant to local and state retirees. The headline from the meeting is that the pensions continue to perform well above the 6.5% target earnings, tracking towards another potential double-digit return year.

This is good news comes despite a number of ongoing economic concerns including the impact of military conflict in Iran, and U.S. inflation running above long-term averages for the year.  Operating above this 6.5% return target is important to both TSERS and LGERS, but especially LGERS as this is the only mechanism for delivering post-retirement benefit increases in terms of bonuses or COLAs.

During the meeting, the Chief Investment Officer of the North Carolina Investment Authority, Kevin SigRist, shared that the Investment Authority decided to reduce the allocation to public equities and shift additional funds to asset classes that typically improve earnings during inflationary periods and are more resilient to market downturns.

The second topic of interest is for those who have called the Retirement System Office and experienced a long wait time. The need for improvement has been studied, acknowledged, and is now being addressed. North Carolina’s Retirement System operates at exceptionally low administrative cost, spending just $33 per member annually, which is far, far below the $130 peer average. While this nominally protects pension resources, it has also historically limited its investments in staffing, technology, and support services that directly shape retiree experience. As a result, retirees may feel the strain in the form of long call‑center wait times, reduced 1‑on‑1 counseling, and slower survivor pension processing. The Trustees took two positive actions at the meeting, voting to approve additional member counselor headcount and later in the meeting participating in a presentation on the Trustees’ role in future technology implementation plans.

The Budget Is Done. The Session Is Not.

The state budget has been passed, Governor Josh Stein has signed it into law, and lawmakers spent most of July away from Raleigh. For a few weeks, Jones Street was unusually quiet.

But this quiet does not mean the session is officially over. The Senate returned this week to begin tying up some of the remaining odds and ends before lawmakers can finally bring this year’s session to a close. Among the items taken up were two related bills described as technical corrections to the recently enacted state budget.

A technical corrections bill is something that typically follows the passage of the state budget. In theory, its purpose is fairly straightforward. It allows lawmakers to correct drafting errors, fix incorrect references, clarify language, and address other relatively minor mistakes discovered after the budget or another piece of legislation has already passed. In other words, it is supposed to help make sure the legislation says and does what lawmakers originally intended.

This year, however, opponents argue that the technical corrections legislation goes well beyond simply correcting mistakes. They contend that several provisions make meaningful changes to state policy and spending that would ordinarily receive more extensive debate as stand-alone legislation.

You can read more about the specific provisions here.

Whether those provisions represent appropriate end-of-session cleanup or policy changes that should have been considered separately is now part of the broader debate surrounding the legislation.

The House is scheduled to return next week and is expected to consider an agenda similar to the one taken up by the Senate.

The major work of the session may be complete, but the General Assembly is not quite finished. As lawmakers work through these final bills, RGEA will continue watching closely for any provisions that could affect North Carolina’s public servants and retirees.

July 6, 2026
RGEA Addresses State Health Plan Trustees

North Carolina’s State Health Plan Trustees met on July 10th and approved a plan for overall costs.  The State Health Plan Staff stated their aims to make healthcare expenses more predictable and shift costs away from the point of care.

RGEA Director of Government Relations addressed the State Health Plan Trustees at  the meeting stating on behalf of state retirees.  “Whether an additional cost comes through a monthly premium or when they visit the doctor, it is still money coming out of the same monthly budget.” Cozort noted that retirees who retired from public service with full benefits remain eligible for premium‑free coverage, as a result of the Lake Case ruling,  yet many could face higher copays under the State Health Plan’s latest recommendation.

Health Plan officials stated they are confronting rising costs driven largely by hospital pricing and consolidation.  Cozort emphasized that retired teachers, nurses, troopers, correctional officers, and other public servants upheld their commitment to North Carolina and now worry about affording the healthcare they earned.

In other news, earlier this week, Governor Josh Stein signed the budget into law, bringing one of the longest legislative budget processes in recent state history to a close. While the Governor acknowledged that the legislation was far from perfect, he also recognized that it contained several important investments for North Carolina and chose to sign the bill rather than prolong the process any further.

In announcing his decision, Governor Stein said the budget includes “meaningful investments in our community colleges, the DMV, childcare, and summer food programs for our kids. These are real wins, worthy of celebration and worthy of my signature.” While he also expressed concerns about several provisions within the budget, he concluded that North Carolina had waited long enough and that state employees, state agencies, and state government retirees should not have to wait any longer for certainty.

For RGEA members, the Governor’s signature means something very important. The 2.5% one-time bonus for State Retirees is now officially law.

Throughout this 1000 day plus budget process, there were no guarantees that retirees would receive any additional benefit. As RGEA shared over the past several months, the Senate’s original budget proposal contained no bonus for state retirees. The House, however, stood firmly behind retired public servants throughout negotiations and successfully preserved the 2.5% bonus in the final conference budget.

These bonuses will be included in state retirees’ September 2026 benefits payments. As we have noted in past issues of News from Jones Street, our mission remains unchanged in advocacy for retirees and RGEA will continue pursuing permanent Cost-of-Living Adjustments.

It is also important to remind our Local Government Retirement System members that LGERS bonuses and COLAs are not determined through the state budget. Instead, they depend upon the financial strength and investment performance of the retirement system. That is why RGEA has invested so much time supporting reforms such as House Bill 506, the State Investment Modernization Act, and working alongside Treasurer Brad Briner’s administration on the Employer Contribution Rate Stabilization Policy. Combined with the retirement system’s strong investment performance over the past year, these reforms position both TSERS and LGERS for stronger opportunities to approve future COLAs.

On that note, the next LGERS (and TSERS) Trustees meeting is scheduled for July 30 and we look forward to reviewing the second quarter investment earnings for the pension funds as they appear to still be tracking towards COLA or bonus territory for 2027. Through February of this year, the funds earned 13.5%  net of fees, producing $17 billion in investment gains while covering $1.4 billion in net benefit payments to retirees or their beneficiaries.

As always, we will continue advocating for permanent COLAs, protecting retiree benefits, and working with policymakers and the Treasurer’s Office to strengthen North Carolina’s retirement systems for generations to come