Ohio had not, in modern history, ever used its police powers to inflict such concentrated, permanent financial harm on a single population—particularly of elderly individuals.

Tina Prufer addressed the STRS Ohio Retirement Board during Public Participation on December 11, 2025.

My name is Trina Prufer and I am a retired School Psychologist. My late husband was a college professor having taught for 40 years. Although I receive both pensions, neither is in compliance with the contracts I signed in 2003 and 2008. I have lost more than a hundred thousand dollars.

I want to address a question: Prior to 2012, had the State of Ohio ever used its police powers to harm a single group of individuals as severely as it did when it eliminated the COLA for STRS retirees?

The answer, looking at Ohio’s history, is no. In the past, Ohio had used its police powers to address emergencies, eminent domain and to protect the general public.

But in 2012, the State used this little known authority to nullify retirees’ existing contracts. This was not a minor adjustment…and it was not done in plain sight. In fact, what occurred was just the opposite. It was done by inserting the “fiscal integrity” language in the ORC which was designed to confuse and delay any recognition of its consequences. And it targeted only one group: STRS retirees, many already elderly, 70% women, with no way to replace the income lost. And here is where the harm deepens:

STRS also hid its consequences, even though it was bound by a fiduciary duty to forewarn.

A fiduciary must disclose material risks, communicate clearly and honestly, protect the reliance interest of its members—especially retirees, and must never allow misleading or incomplete information to shape member expectations or decisions.

Retirees were not told that their COLA had effectively been eliminated permanently. They were not shown projections of how their purchasing power would erode year after year. They were not warned that the retirement contract obligation had been fundamentally rewritten under the State’s police powers.

As a result, thousands of retirees entered the next decade unaware of the magnitude of the financial harm they would face. They were denied even the opportunity to adjust or prepare, because they were never given the information a fiduciary is required to provide.

In any other context—banking, insurance, employee benefits—nullifying a contract by removing a vested benefit and obscuring its consequences--would be labeled deceptive, or perhaps even fraudulent. But here, it was simply called “reform.”

It is important to state plainly:

Ohio had not, in modern history, ever used its police powers to inflict such concentrated, permanent financial harm on a single population—particularly of elderly individuals. And it did so, without transparency or warning. The combination of legislative chicanery and fiduciary silence makes the harm unprecedented.

The time has come to recognize this monumental wrong and do something about it.