TEXPERS Outlook Newsletter Notes Recent Pension Legislative and Regulatory Moves

Our May issue of TEXPERS Outlook newsletter contains several stories of interest to those who follow pension activities.

I think one of the most interesting story is about new guidelines that the Government Finance Officers Association recently adopted on pension governance. The GFOA works to enhance and promote the professional management of governments for the public benefit by identifying and developing financial policies and best practices and promoting their use through education, training, facilitation of member networking, and leadership.

Specifically the GFOA’s report recommends that state and local governments establish rules of governance for their post-retirement benefits systems and define the key elements necessary for trustees and fiduciaries to fulfill their responsibilities. In my opinion I think a lot of our member pension systems already have such guidelines in place. They are available here.

As I hinted at in my previous blog, Texas pensions do a lot of this already. Just look at that 2005 document of the Lubbock Fire Pension Fund that was discussed previously. There’s a lot there and I think that’s typical of most if not all the TEXPERS members. – Max Patterson