Título: Chris Christie
Seção: Public employee pensions
Background: Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, former federal prosecutor, and political commentator who served as the 55th Governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. During his governorship, he chaired the Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission in 2017. Christie became an ABC News contributor in 2018 after leaving office. Christie was born in Newark and raised in Livingston.

Conteúdo: In March 2010, Christie signed into law three state pension reform bills, which had passed with bipartisan support. The laws decreased pension benefits for future hires and required public employees to contribute 1.5 percent of their salaries toward their health care. The laws prompted a lawsuit by the police and firefighters' unions. In his campaign for governor, Christie opposed any change in pension benefits for firefighters and law enforcement officers, including "current officers, future officers or retirees". He described the pension agreement as "a sacred trust".  Later that year, he called for further cuts, including the elimination of cost-of-living adjustments for all current and future retirees. In June 2011, Christie announced a deal with the Democratic leadership of the legislature on a reform of public employee pensions and benefits. The deal raised public employees' pension contributions, mandated the state to make annual payments into the system, increased public employee contributions toward health insurance premiums, and ended collective bargaining for health benefits. The reform is projected to save the state $120 billion over 30 years.  In June 2013, Christie signed a $33 billion state budget that makes a record $1.7 billion payment to the state's pension fund and also increases school funding by almost $100 million. The budget resulted from negotiations between Christie and Democratic leaders in the state legislature and was the first that Christie has si

user: What did Christie have to do with pensions?

assistant: In March 2010, Christie signed into law three state pension reform bills, which had passed with bipartisan support.

user: What did the first bill do?

assistant: The laws decreased pension benefits for future hires and required public employees to contribute 1.5 percent of their salaries toward their health care.

user: How did the public feel about it?

assistant: The laws prompted a lawsuit by the police and firefighters' unions.

user: Who won the lawsuit?

assistant: CANNOTANSWER

user: Did Christie sign any other interesting bills?

assistant: In June 2013, Christie signed a $33 billion state budget that makes a record $1.7 billion payment to the state's pension fund

user: How did people respond to that?

assistant: CANNOTANSWER

user: What else is interesting about the article?

assistant: Christie cut the contributions to New Jersey public workers' pension funds for a 14-month period by nearly $2.5 billion

user: Why did he do that?

assistant: to deal with a revenue shortfall in the state budget of $2.75 billion.

user: Did it work?

assistant: follows Christie's changes to the state's pension formula earlier in 2014 to save $900 million through the end of his term.