Lawmakers Propose Municipal Pension Disclosure Standards

The bills are new versions of H.R. 6484, a bill introduced in the 111th Congress in December 2010.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Washington, helped organize a press conference today to promote the bill.

Randal Johnson, a senior vice president at the chamber, says the level of unfunded liabilities at state and local government pension plans has reached crisis proportions.

"Unfortunately, the one solution governments may turn to as a source of funding is further taxation on private sector employers and workers," Johnson said at the press conference, according to a summary provided by the chamber. "Further, it is hardly fair that the private sector is held to stringent funding requirements under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which can adversely affect wages and benefits for workers as funding shortages are addressed, while the public sector often remains free to promise increasing levels of benefits without properly funding those benefits for the future."

The number of states with fully funded pension systems fell to 4 in 2008, from about 25 in 2000, chamber officials say.