Union officials say they have grown weary of Quinn's efforts to rally business leaders behind his ideas and his use of agency directors and state government resources to argue that basic state government functions will suffer unless something is done about pensions.

The U.S. Census collects key data from selected state and municipal pension funds every year. State Budget Solutions consolidated the data for the 222 largest state administered defined benefit pension funds from fiscal years 2007 through 2010 to present an overview of each state's pension funds.  See how your state is doing.

Gov. Christie's pension reform did little to stop the age-old New Jersey practice of double-dipping, in which employees "retire," start collecting a pension, and then are rehired, often the next day.  A criminal investigation is under way involving his running mate, New Jersey Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno.

Recent studies by the U.S. Census Bureau, GAO, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and the Harvard Kennedy School detail the continued deterioration and chance of failure of public pension systems within the overall local and state government fiscal crisis. Read these studies and be aware of the extent of this pressing problem.

The Illinois State Senate approved legislation that would require retired state workers to pick up more of the costs of their health insurance.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel took his case for pension reform directly to rank-and-file members whose contributions he wants to raise and whose retirement benefits he's proposing to cut.

Pension reform is a separate issue from amortization. These two issues have been conflated by those invoking the GASB proviso for closed DB plans, but this has only sown confusion. This is clearly demonstrated when the reform is structured with amortization payments on total payroll. In this way, the growth in the base for amortization payments is unaffected by the reform, so there is no policy reason for changing the schedule of these payments. The funding schedule for amortization is a red herring, irrelevant to the fundamental policy decision for pension reform. Amortization pays for past debts; pension reform lays a path toward a responsible future.

Complicating a complicated situation, the Illinois constitution forbids revoking pension benefits, but health care isn't included, supposedly, so the governor hopes to skirt the constitution by offering retirees a Hobson's choice - accept the new plan with the cuts or keep the old system but lose your health care.

The Kansas Senate on Wednesday approved a $14.4 billion state budget for the next fiscal year after adding money for public schools and property tax relief.

An Illinois Senate committee rejected a measure that would force local government to pick up the tab when it gives an ex-lawmaker a big paycheck to fatten his pension.

Pension reform is a separate issue from amortization. These two issues have been conflated by those invoking the GASB proviso for closed DB plans, but this has only sown confusion. This is clearly demonstrated when the reform is structured with amortization payments on total payroll. In this way, the growth in the base for amortization payments is unaffected by the reform, so there is no policy reason for changing the schedule of these payments. The funding schedule for amortization is a red herring, irrelevant to the fundamental policy decision for pension reform. Amortization pays for past debts; pension reform lays a path toward a responsible future.

This report discusses increases in age and service requirements for normal retirement that state governments enacted from 2009 through 2011. It includes changes in 30 plans for general state employees and teachers in 25 states, and 16 plans for public safety employees in 13 states. In most cases, the changes affect only people hired after the legislation was passed. In a few plans, the changes apply to non-vested members as well.pe

Tables Showing Which States Have Defined Benefit, Defined Contribution and Hybrid Plans for State Employees and Teachers.

This paper investigates the determinants of public pension plan risk-taking behavior using the percentage of total plan assets invested in the equity markets and the pension asset beta as measures of investment risk. We find that government accounting standards strongly affect public fund investment risk, as higher return assumptions (used to discount pension liabilities) are associated with higher equity allocation and beta. Unlike private pension plans, public funds undertake more risk if they are underfunded and have lower investment returns in the previous years, consistent with the risk transfer hypothesis. Furthermore, pension funds in states facing financial constraints allocate more assets to equity and have higher pension asset betas. There also appears to be a herding effect in that a change in CalPERS portfolio beta or equity allocation is mimicked by other pension funds. Finally, the results offer mild support of a public union effect.

The sixth-annual Tennessee Pork Report is chock-full yet again, of waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement of taxpayer money by state and local government officials. Despite a changing political landscape in Tennessee, wasteful government spending has not disappeared.

This paper examines the fiscal health of the 50 U.S. states. As this paper shows, accounting for implicit pension liabilities provides a significantly more negative picture than does explicit debt information on its own.

The jig may finally be up for state pension funds. After years of fooling the public and the federal government, academics and the media are starting to take notice of the growing crisis.  But just how big is the problem?  This SBS study reveals the true extent of the crisis.

The intent of this report is not to suggest specific policy solutions; rather it is to enrich the debate over the various dimensions of the Massachusetts public pension system by providing data on pensions across many of those dimensions. Highlighted issues include group classification, retirement year, service years, and income replacement levels.

A compilation of websites presenting research and opinion on Pennsylvania's pension funds.

Proposal for reforming Maine's pension plans, including freezing pensions for three years (2011 - 2013), identical to the state employee salary freeze, and ensuring reasonable increases in pensions after that, close to the historical norm of 2.8% annually, based on CPI (inflation), but capped at 2% (currently capped at 4%).

Sound pension reform meets four general criteria: (1) establish transparency with respect to the true cost of the benefits promised to public employees; (2) mandate that the pension plan sponsor pay the full cost of accrued benefits each year; (3) mandate that the pension plan sponsor pay down the unfunded accrued liability over a reasonable time horizon and (4) improve the generational equity, portability and security of benefits for public employees.

Paper suggesting Virginia move toward a combined retirement program that includes partially a defined benefits program and added to this should be a defined contributions program. Such a balanced system would make the Commonwealth’s costs lower and more predictable while providing attractive benefits to employees.

The long-term problem can be addressed by encouraging local governments to place all new employees in 401(k)-style "defined contribution" plans rather than General Motors-style "defined benefit" plans, and to encourage current employees to convert to defined contribution plans as well. This would help ensure that the present costs of government are funded in present budgets.

Georgia should continue to push the reforms that have made this one of the best managed states in the nation, but innovation is the best opportunity for true reform. Tax, regulatory and tort reform will create the right conditions for innovation in the private sector while the state pursues innovation in the areas of criminal justice, education and heath care.

If state and education employees really want fairness, they can certainly keep more of their monthly paychecks, reduce contributions to their retirement and switch to a sensible defined contribution plan like the lion's share of Alabamians.

Opening up the NDPERS's defined-contribution (DC) plan to all workers would have a dramatic impact on the system's bottom line. A DC plan, similar to a 401k plan, would allow the employees and the employer to contribute a defined amount of salaries and wages - say, the current 8.12% - but the state would not have to worry about ensuring the viability of the system.

A guide to needed reforms in pensions, taxes and higher education, among other areas, with  two types of goals that are important when working towards limiting government: long-term policy objectives that show the end-game goals and short-term policies that steer public policy towards the long-term goals. This guide provides both.

Converting these statistics into actual budget savings involves a combination of straightforward "eat your vegetables" cuts, and process innovations like privatization that generate savings through "second-order" incentive changes throughout the system.

Shifting public pensions from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans could generate higher returns for pensioners while limiting the risk to the public when pensions do not perform well.