Settlement fails in Rhode Island pension overhaul

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A proposed settlement that would have ended the legal fight over Rhode Island’s 2011 landmark pension overhaul, which has been a model for other states looking to rein in runaway pension costs, was rejected by one of the groups voting on it, officials announced Monday. The parties were ordered back into mediation.

Police union members, the smallest of the six groups that had to approve the proposal, rejected it, said Ray Sullivan, a spokesman for the plaintiffs. Sixty-one percent of police union members voted to reject the settlement.