Pa. pension officials to appear before lawmakers

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Administrators of Pennsylvania’s major public pension funds are slated to appear before legislative committees scrutinizing Gov. Tom Corbett’s budget-reform package.

Executive from the Public School Employees’ Retirement System and the State Employees’ Retirement System, which include more than 800,000 active and retired members, are to appear today before the House and Senate committees.

A central focus is Corbett’s proposal to reduce future pension benefits for current state and school employees.

The administration released figures Tuesday indicating that the state could save nearly $12 billion over 30 years through the benefit rollbacks alone. But the proposal has received a lukewarm reaction from legislators, and employee unions have vowed to challenge the cuts in court if they are passed on grounds that they are unconstitutional.