Friday, February 01, 2008

Beshear to offer separate plan for pension reform

This from Jack Brammer at the Herald-Leader:
FRANKFORT --About 432,000 state employees, teachers and retirees will have to wait to learn Gov. Steve Beshear's plan to address an $18 billion shortfall in the public retirement systems, but he will not be issuing bonds to solve the problem.

Beshear said Tuesday night during his budget address that he "will offer a specific proposal on pension reform in the coming weeks, and I look forward to working with you as we resolve this critical problem." ...

..."What we can do now is address the increasing costs," he said. "These programs are not sustainable at current levels."

If the shortfall is not addressed, the pension funds face bankruptcy in 14 years. State retirees would get no pension checks and would have to pay for health care.

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