Kentucky Chamber calls on House to pass key pension transparency bill

In a letter to members of the House of Representatives sent Monday, Kentucky Chamber President and CEO Dave Adkisson called for passage of legislation to bring much needed transparency and oversight to the state’s public pension systems.

In the letter, Adkisson said the business community is encouraged by the effort by the House in their version of the budget to fully fund the actuarially required contribution (ARC) of both the Kentucky Retirement System and Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System.

In addition to that critical step, the Kentucky Chamber asks for support in final passage of Senate Bill 2.

“With just a few days left in the 2016 session of the General Assembly, we are asking that you take an important step to ensure transparency and accountability in the state’s woefully underfunded pension systems,” Adkisson writes. “The Kentucky Chamber has long been concerned about the unfunded liability of the state’s retirement systems and has advocated for a number of changes to improve the systems including measures to increase transparency.”

As previously reported on The Bottom Line, Senate Bill 2 would bring more transparency and oversight to the state’s retirement systems by making changes to board structures including gubernatorial appointments and by requiring the systems to follow KRS Chapter 45A, the model procurement code.

Other changes to the three retirement systems, Kentucky Retirement System (KRS), Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System (KTRS) and the Judicial Retirement System include:

• Disclosure of fees and contracts
• Prohibiting the use of placement agents by the systems
• Confirmation of appointments and/or contracts by the Senate
• Uniform methods of reporting and disclosing investment fees

In his letter, Adkisson stated that the Kentucky Chamber is encouraged by the passage of Senate Bill 2 out of the House State Government Committee with overwhelming support and asked that members of the House ensure this bill makes it over the finish line in the last few days of session.