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60 S. Tex. L. Rev. 597 (2019-2020)
Is the Sky Really Falling: A Closer Look at the Current Pension Crisis and the Constitutionality of Retroactive Pension Reform

handle is hein.journals/stexlr60 and id is 631 raw text is: IS THE SKY REALLY FALLING? A CLOSER LOOK AT THE CURRENT PENSION CRISIS AND THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF RETROACTIVE PENSION REFORM AARON WALLACEt I. IN TRO DU CTION ............................................................................... 598 II. IS THERE A TRUE CRISIS?........................................................... 600 A. Pensions Continue to be Financially Stable Despite Fund- ing R a tios ................................................................................ 6 0 3 B. How Changes in Accounting Standards Contributed to the Crisis....................................................................................... 604 C. Are Pensions Too Costly to Sustain? ...................................... 606 D. How Pensions Benefit the Economy........................................ 608 III. ORIGINAL PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CONTRACTS CLAUSE .......................................................................................... 609 A. The Framers on the Importance of Protecting Contractual Stability ................................................................................... 610 B. At the Ratifying Convention.................................................... 611 C. O riginal Signficance .............................................................. 612 D . State-Created Contracts.......................................................... 612 E. The Concept of Prospectiveness ............................................. 613 IV. THREE PERIODS OF CONTRACTS CLAUSE JURISPRUDENCE ........... 614 A. The Early Years and the Marshall Approach ......................... 614 1. Fletcher v. Peck ................................................................ 615 2. Sturges v. Crowninshield.................................................. 616 3. Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward .................. 617 4. Ogden v. Saunders ............................................................ 618 5. Stone v. Mississippi .......................................................... 618 B. The Blaisdell Era: The Clause Turned on Its Head................ 619 C. The Modern Era: The Clause Revived-Somewhat................ 620 V. APPLICATION OF THE CONTRACTS CLAUSE TO PENSION REFORM.......................................................................................... 622 t J.D., South Texas College of Law Houston, May 2019, magna cum laude; Senior Editor, South Texas Law Review, 2017-2018; Captain, Houston Fire Department, 2001-present. A very special thanks to Professor Dru Stevenson for supporting me in this project and for being such a great mentor, and to the editorial board and membership of the South Texas Law Review. I dedicate this writing to public-sector employees and their families who have experienced the loss of hard- earned benefits to retroactive pension reform. 597

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