OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Issue Position: Pennsylvania's Pension Crisis

Issue Position

Date: Jan. 1, 2012
Issues: Senior Citizens Entitlements and the Safety Net

Pennsylvania is facing a multi-billion dollar public pension crisis. The two systems administering retirement accounts for state employees and public school employees, the State Employees' Retirement System (SERS) and Public School Employees' Retirement System (PSERS) respectively, will not remain solvent without significant increases in employer (taxpayer) contributions.
We need to do something in the short run to address the spike in employer contributions due to hit in 2012, and we also need a long-term pension reform plan.
One of my greatest concerns is ensuring property taxpayers are insulated from increases required to fund school employee pensions. Our property taxes are high enough and we should not be on the hook for a crisis we did not help to create. In an effort to protect property taxpayers, I introduced House Bill 2482 to lock employer contributions made by school districts to the public pension system at 4 percent for the 2010-11 school year and beyond. The Commonwealth would make up the necessary difference to fully fund the pension system.


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