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By Patrick B. McGuigan | CapitolBeatOK
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Pew Center on the States says the nationwide gap between promised retirement benefits for government employees and required funding for those benefits has risen to nearly $1.4 trillion.
Oklahoma fell among the weaker states in the analysis, which covered data through fiscal 2010, but the leading advocate of pension reform in the state House predicted the Sooner State’s showing will improve as newer data are incorporated.
In a summary of the report released Monday, the Pew researchers wrote, “States continue to lose ground in their efforts to cover the long-term costs of their employees’ pensions and retiree health care … due to continued investment losses from the financial crisis of 2008 and states’ inability to set aside enough each year to adequately fund their retirement promises.
“States have responded with an unprecedented number of reforms that, with strong investment gains, may improve the funding situation they face going forward, but continued fiscal discipline and additional reforms will be needed to put states back on a firm footing.”
Read the complete story at CapitolBeatOK
