Some public employees don't like it. These would be defined-contribution plans under which employees would manage their own pensions. Pensions are derived from investment decisions made by VRS alone.
Workers can take their money to other plans when they change jobs.
But a defined-contribution program is not without risk. For starters, employees must make their own investment decisions. Also, the state would be virtually free of responsibility for paying for retirement, except matching contributions. Were Virginia to move big time to self-managed pensions, there could be millions more for the legislators to spend on their pet projects and other priorities du jour. In contrast, a defined-benefits program like VRS is fully backed by taxpayers.