Nebraska
Overview
The Nebraska Public Employees Retirement Systems (NPERS) is the sole state retirement system in Nebraska, administering retirement and other benefits for employees of the state, public school teachers, and employees of political subdivisions that have elected to participate. One county in the state and roughly a dozen cities also sponsor retirement systems.
Effective September 1, 2024, NPERS has responsibility for administering retirement benefits for the Omaha School Employees’ Retirement System.
Plan Design
Employees of the state, except members of the state highway patrol, and counties participate in hybrid, cash balance plans. School teachers participate in a traditional defined benefit plan, as do most employees of local government that sponsor their own retirement plan.
According to the US Government Accountability Office, 91 percent of employees of state and local government in Nebraska participate in Social Security.
Authorizing Statutes and Board Structure
Nebraska Revised Statute 84-1501 et seq. establishes the Nebraska Public Employees Retirement board, its composition, duties, and responsibilities.
NPERS assets, including those of the Omaha School ERS, are managed by the Nebraska Investment Council.
Details regarding the composition of these and other retirement boards is accessible via the Retirement and Investment Board Characteristics search tool located at the bottom of this page.
Fiduciary Duty/Prudence Standard
Nebraska Revised Statute 72-1237:
The appointed members of the council shall act with the care, skill, prudence, and diligence under the circumstances then prevailing that a prudent person acting in like capacity and familiar with such matters would use in the conduct of an enterprise of a like character and with like aims by diversifying the investments of the assets of the retirement systems, the Nebraska educational savings plan trust, the achieving a better life experience program, and state funds so as to minimize risk of large losses, unless in light of such circumstances it is clearly prudent not to do so. No assets of the retirement systems, the Nebraska educational savings plan trust, or the achieving a better life experience program shall be invested or reinvested if the sole or primary investment objective is for economic development or social purposes or objectives.
Legal Protections of Retirement Benefits
Nothing in this section shall prevent local governing bodies from reviewing and adjusting vested pension benefits periodically as prescribed by ordinance. NE CONST., Article Ill, §17; Calabro v. City of Omaha, 531 N.W.2d 541 (Neb. 1995) (holding that constitutionally protected contract rights vested upon acceptance of employment and that elimination of plan violated contract clause in Article 1, Sec. 10 of U.S. Constitution); but see Livengood v. Nebraska State Patrol Retirement System, 729 N.W.2d 55 (Neb. 2007) (reduction in sick leave hours in the collective bargaining agreement did not unconstitutionally impair prior contractual right). (NE CONST., Article Ill, §19; Article XV, §17) Source: Robert Klausner, Esq., State Constitutional Protections for Public Sector Retirement Benefits
See also the following search tools:
Retirement System Account Interest Policies | Economic Actuarial Assumptions | Retirement and Investment Board Characteristics |
Information about interest rates applied to account balances of inactive plan participants | Assumed rates of investment return and inflation | Composition and characteristics of public retirement and investment oversight boards |
Mortality Assumptions | Plan Design Features | Post-retirement Employment Policies |
Public retirement system actuarial assumptions for mortality | Numerous elements of retirement plan design | Policies governing return-to-work for retirement system annuitants |
More Data
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Population (2024) 2,005,465 |
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Nebraska public pension statistics, per U.S. Census Bureau as of FY 2024 |
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Assets |
$26.7 billion |
Active Members |
84,008 |
Annuitants |
48,476 |
Benefits Paid |
$1.6 billion |
Employee Contributions |
$477.1 million |
Employer Contributions |
$660.0 million |
Systems |
One state retirement system that accounts for 79 percent of public pension assets and 82 percent of public pension plan participants in the state. One county and 12 cities also sponsor retirement systems in Nebraska. |
Other Resources
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Benefit Review Study of the Nebraska Retirement Systems, Buck Consultants (August 2000)