Texas is not immune to the problems that trouble pension systems across the country. In Texas, state and local governments employ about 16% of workers. Most of them have a defined-benefit pension plan that promises a regular payment to retirees based on guaranteed formulas and irrespective of investment returns. Underperforming investments and generational accounting issues are exhausting these plans leaving them with mounting, unsustainable liabilities. In fact the Texas Pension Review Board (PRB) noted in its 2019 report to the Legislature that “despite a nearly 10-year bull market follow- ing the 2008 market downturn, the unfunded liabilities of many public retirement systems both across the country and in Texas continue to rise.”
Sharon Bemis Testimony | Wisconsin Senate Committee on Shared Revenue, Elections, and Consumer Protection
Chairman Knodl and members of Committee on Shared Revenue, Elections and Consumer Protection, Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony in support of Senate Bill 685. My name is Sharon Bemis. In the past five years, I have served as a municipal clerk and voter registrar who administered municipal, state, and federal elections, led...