From Stateline.org: State legislators are beginning to challenge rules that they cannot legally reduce pension benefits for current and future retirees. Many state lawmakers and pension administrators have concluded that cutting benefits for new employees alone will not save enough money in the short term to keep pension plans solvent over time. So they are searching for ways to zero in on the benefits of current retirees and employees.

Lawmakers in Colorado, Minnesota and South Dakota voted earlier this year to limit cost-of-living increases they previously had promised to thousands of current and future retirees, who courts historically have protected from benefit reductions. Retirees in each state have filed lawsuits asking judges to restore their annual benefit increases to what they were previously.