Schoesler wants constitution changed

OLYMPIA — Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, proposed a constitutional amendment to allow the state actuary more power related to setting rates in the public pension system Tuesday.

Under Senate Joint Resolution 8223, the state actuary would establish valuations on state run retirement plans. The Pension Funding Council would use those valuations to create employer contribution rates. The rates would be in the state budget adopted by the Legislature unless at least 60 percent of lawmakers select lower rates.

“We should view the actuary’s non-partisan work on the valuations of our pension plans in the same way we view our chief economist’s non-partisan work on state revenue forecasts,” stated Schoesler. “No one questions the revenue forecasts when we are writing budgets. We should put just as much faith in the pension plan valuations when it’s time to fund contributions.”

The amount set by the actuary would be automatically adopted unless a super-majority of lawmakers votes against it.

“The pension system has been affected by the economic downturn, certainly, but it was already showing the effects of too little funding for too many years – skipped payments, and contribution rates influenced more by politics than economics,” Schoesler stated. “This measure would bring more objectivity to the process at a critical time in the management of those plans.”

According to the state actuary, the Teachers’ Retirement System Plan 1 and Public Employees Retirement Systems Plan 1 are at risk of running out of assets.

“The actuary and his staff say the remedy is to make all required contributions in the future, and those contributions will have to be much larger as well,” Schoesler stated. “This amendment would improve the likelihood of that happening,”

If adopted by the Legislature, the measure appears on the November ballot.

The senator is a member of the Select Committee on Pension Policy.