Gov. Steve Beshear will be talking about pension reform at a press conference in Frankfort Tuesday.
While most of the talk about the 2009 legislative session, which begins a week from Tuesday, has centered around the state’s budget shortfall, pension reform and the possibility of building upon measures enacted during this year’s special legislative session will likely be addressed when lawmakers return to Frankfort.
Rep. Mike Cherry, a Princeton Democrat and chair of the House State Government Committee, has been a leader in the House when it comes to recent pension reform proposals, and has pre-filed a bill relating to how local governments make their contributions to the County Employees Retirement System.
Cherry’s pre-filed bill would allow local governments a phase-in period of up to 10 years to fully fund contributions to the CERS for retirees health care benefits, a main driver in pension cost increases.
Other pieces of legislation are sure to come after the session starts, but work on pension reform will likely take a back seat to the immediate concerns over the state’s budget crisis.
Beshear’s press conference begins at 10 a.m. CST – more details as they’re available.
Filed under: Kentucky government |
At the River's Bend 
Growing pension deficits have masked state overspending for way too long. The sad truth is the budget crisis is worse than the official estimates because we need to be pouring significantly more money into those plans. We must immediately make government a lot smaller in Kentucky.