FRANKFORT, Ky. (Feb. 22, 2013) — In a letter to lawmakers this week, the Kentucky Chamber informed legislators that with 13 days left in the legislative session, the countdown has begun to fix Kentucky’s public employee pension system. The letter was delivered to all 138 members of the Kentucky General Assembly and urged legislators to put bipartisan politics and special interests aside for the good of Kentucky taxpayers.
RELATED: Pension shortfall a potential bankruptcy bomb
Kentucky Retirement Systems (KRS) is underfunded by more than $30 billion, and the funding gap for the retirement systems has grown by roughly $3 billion in the past year alone.
Dave Adkisson, Chamber president and CEO, stressed the importance of seizing the current opportunity to fix the ailing pension system.
“There is a bipartisan proposal before the House of Representatives right now that can save the state 10 billion dollars over the next 20 years,” Adkisson said. “This legislation came from a task force made up of Democrats and Republicans who compromised to negotiate this deal. It can put the state on the right path and should be enacted during the current session – there is no reason to push this issue into a special session that will just cost the state more money.”
The Chamber has started a countdown clock to make clear that pension reform is its top priority and remind elected officials each day that passes without reform increases the bill for the state’s taxpayers.
“We hope the countdown won’t be necessary very much longer, but we want to use it to remind our elected leaders we expect them to act – and act now on pension reform,” Adkisson said.
Senate Bill 2, which the Chamber supports, has passed the Senate and is awaiting action by the House of Representatives.
The Chamber represents 2,700 member businesses that employ over half of the commonwealth’s workforce. On its website, it offers a tool to contact legislators about the pension issue. View it here.
Add Comment