Pension boards sue over financial manager law

DETROIT (AP) -- The City of Detroit's two pension boards have filed a lawsuit seeking to block the state's new emergency financial manager law, calling it unconstitutional. The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press report the lawsuit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Detroit and names Gov. Rick Snyder and Treasurer Andy Dillon. The lawsuit claims that emergency financial managers could remove pension board members for no reason. Snyder's office says the governor believes in the constitutionality of the law, otherwise he wouldn't have signed it. Snyder and Dillon and say financial managers need broader powers so they can restructure school districts and communities headed for insolvency. Unions and other groups have warned that the financial oversight law could lead to union rights and local control being lost. Published: Thu, Apr 21, 2011