Pensions Unreformed
Here's a headline we all saw coming:
Leaders: Cuts in contributions to pension funds might be needed
Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, first raised the issue of cutting contributions during a meeting with Republican senators yesterday.
"When we come back here next year a serious decision that we are going to have to talk about with the next budget ... the governor is going to have to make a decision on whether he's going to suspend the statute we passed only last year to make sure we can sustain ourselves if we make our actuarially required contribution."
Last summer the legislature passed a law that put the state on a 20-year timeline to get the pension systems back to full funding.
--snip--
Both Beshear and Stumbo said all options would be on the table.
"I would echo Sen. Williams' statement that we are not advocating that, we certainly hope it doesn't happen, but in these economic times everything may well be on the table and it may well be that we cannot meet those payments and function as state government without making astronomical cuts to human services and education," Stumbo said.
This is a serious issue, and these are unserious answers. We're a broken record about just how little our legislators care about the pension system. We said of the unraveling reforms of the special session:
ES08 HB 1 was a small step forward in dealing with the overwhelming pension liability facing the state. Of the main reforms, one was a commitment to responsible funding of pension plans. What was a small step forward in the first place is now slowly unraveling.
Instead of addressing the future liability by creating a new plan for future employees that would more greatly resemble retirement benefits in the private sector, the General Assembly chose to require adequate payments to support the plan as it is.
This year, they raided the pension fund for a $50 million loan (HB 143) and put off contributions into the pension system (HB 117). Now, they're not going to fund it as they promised in the special session.
The pension system is unsustainable, and none of our legislative leadership is serious about the issue.
