About Nebraska Public Employees Retirement Systems
The Nebraska Public Employees Retirement Systems (NPERS), under the direction of the Public Employees Retirement Board (PERB), administers several statewide retirement systems and one deferred compensation plan for the State of Nebraska.
All five mandatory retirement plans administered by NPERS are governmental plans as defined under Internal Revenue Code § 414(d) and 29 U.S.C. § 1002(32) [i.e. ERISA § 3(32)]. The voluntary Deferred Compensation Plan (DCP) is instituted under IRC § 457(b). NPERS carries out its mission from one location in Lincoln, Nebraska.
The five mandatory plans NPERS administers are for State, County, School, Judges and Patrol employees. The voluntary Deferred Compensation Plan is administered primarily for State, Judges, and State Patrol employees, however County employees are eligible to participate if their county does not offer a voluntary plan.
Defined Benefit Plans
- Nebraska School Employees' Retirement System (School Employees Retirement Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 79-901 to 79-977.03).
- Nebraska Judges Retirement System (Judges Retirement Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. §§24-701 to 24-714).
- Nebraska State Patrol Retirement System (Nebraska State Patrol Retirement Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 81-2014 to 81-2040).
Cash Balance/Defined Contribution Plans
- State Employees Retirement System (State Employees Retirement Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 84-1301 to 84-1333).
- County Employees Retirement System (County Employees Retirement Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 23-2301 to 23-2334).
The State and County Employees' Retirement plans began as Defined Contribution (DC) plans. The Cash Balance (CB) benefit was added by passage of LB687 on April 18, 2002. As of January 1, 2003, members who begin participation in the mandatory retirement plan participate in the Cash Balance benefit. Plan members who were previously in Defined Contribution were given the option of keeping their DC benefit, or converting to Cash Balance.
Deferred Compensation Plan
The Deferred Compensation Plan (DCP) is authorized by §§ 84-1504 through 84-1514. Also administered by NPERS is the Spousal Pension Rights Act (§§ 42-1101 to 42-1113), which governs qualified domestic relations orders in the five NPERS-administered pension plans.
Year Ending 2021 Plan Statistics
| State | County | School* | Patrol* | Judges* | DCP** | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active Members | 1,714 - DC 14,233 - CB |
715 - DC 7,172 - CB |
43,423 | 403 | 145 | 3,640 | ||||||
| Inactive Members | 1,205 - DC 9,758 - CB |
528 - DC 3,942 - CB |
25,910 | 39 | 4 | 1,266 | ||||||
| Retirees*** | 2,475 | 870 | 26,894 | 490 35 - DROP |
195 | N/A | ||||||
| Plan Assets | $848,058,838 - DC $2,262,565,874 - CB |
$256,279,168 - DC $754,450,268 - CB |
$15,692,556,258 | $552,081,721 | $246,453,303 | $258,467,426 | ||||||