Natalie Gonnella
In an op-ed in the San Diego Union-Tribune today, House Oversight Committee Chair Darrell Issa took aim at the country's public "pension pickle."
A key topic in many governors state of the state addresses, current estimates predict that more than 50% of state pensions will run out of resources by 2030, with some reaching their limits by the end of the decade.
In response, last December, Issa introduced the the Public Employee Pension Transparency Act, which aims to provide enhanced transparency for state and local pensions, [while] also [establishing] a clear federal prohibition on any future public pension bailouts by the federal government."
Here's a look at what Issa had to say today about the country's dire need for pension reform:
By mandating new transparency rules, public pensions will be forced not only to disclose their current liabilities using a uniform accounting standard, but also their underlying methods and assumptions to project realistic rates of return and tie assets to reasonable fair market evaluations. Moreover, the reform plan links federal tax-exempt bonding authority to states and local governments with compliance to the law. In essence, no transparency will mean no money.
Ignoring the pension problem will only send states’ budgets on a faster downward spiral toward bankruptcy and increase the likelihood that federal taxpayers will get stuck with the bill for benefits that are not only unaffordable but also far more generous than those enjoyed by most workers in the private sector who ultimately pay for them.
Representatives Paul Ryan and Devin Nunes joined Issa in introducing the transparency act in 2010.
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