ACCORDING TO A 2020 UNITED STATES CENSUS BUREAU REPORT, THE NEARLY 300 STATE ADMINISTERED AND 6,000 LOCALLY-ADMINISTERED PUBLIC RETIREMENT PLANS COLLECTIVELY HOLD $4.6 TRILLION IN ASSETS AND DISTRIBUTED APPROXIMATELY $330.4 MILLION IN BENEFITS.
These massive plans’ fiscal health and funding are a priority for legislators and public sector stakeholders
nationwide. As pension benefits are paid from trust funds that public employees and their employers
contributed while working – not general government revenues – these trust fund assets are invested and
expected to grow more over time.
The subject of pension reform – made more urgent by the Great Recession – is a seemingly permanent fixture in state Capitols across the country. Given the breadth of the subject, this CSG South Policy Analysis focuses specifically on the following:
- Examining well-funded and performing state
retirement systems in the South; - Comparing Southern state plans’ contribution rates
and statutory changes; and - Assessing CSG South member state retirement
systems’ handling of the “13th Check.”