Resources

Final report from the Teachers' Retirement System Viability Commission, which was created as part of the biennial budget for fiscal years 2018-19 (Conn. Acts 17-2 (June Special Session)). The report provides the research and analysis considered by the Commission as well as three alternative plans aimed at making TRS viable in the short and long term.

Research report from the Connecticut General Assembly's nonpartisan Office of Legislative Research that compares state employee pension benefits in northeastern states, including employee pension contribution rates, the number of years used to determine pension benefits, whether overtime pay is included in pension benefit calculations, and prescription drug copayments.

This issue brief, based on a November 2015 comprehensive report from researchers at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, examines Connecticut's State Employees Retirement System (SERS) and the State's significant unfunded liabilities associated with the system. Along with providing a brief history of funding for SERS and offering alternatives meant to shore up the system's finances and improve the overall flexibility of Connecticut's budget, the issue brief examines three major factors that contributed to SERS' unfunded liability. These factors include: 1) legacy costs from benefits promised before the systems were pre-funded; 2) inadequate contributions once the State decided to pre-fund; and 3) low investment returns relative to the assumed return since 2000.

A comprehensive report, from researchers at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, that examines the fiscal health of Connecticut's two largest public sector retirement systems: the State Employees Retirement System (SERS) and the Teachers' Retirement System (TRS). In addition to projecting the systems' finances going forward and presenting "alternatives to shore up the systems' finances and improve budget flexibility," the report, which was requested by the State of Connecticut, looks at the State's unfunded liabilities for both systems and the factors that have caused those unfunded liabilities to increase significantly over the years. The report finds "[t]hree factors underlie the current unfunded liability of SERS and TRS: 1) legacy costs from benefits promised before the systems were pre-funded; 2) inadequate contributions once the State decided to pre-fund; and 3) low investment returns relative to the assumed return since 2000."

On February 3, 2010, Governor M. Jodi Rell issued an executive order establishing the State Post-Employment Benefits Commission to examine the unfunded liabilities, costs, and budgetary impacts associated with the State's public pension systems and other post-employment benefits (OPEB). The governor executive order charged the Commission with delivering a report that: 1) identified the amount and extent of unfunded liabilities for pensions and other post-employment benefits; 2) compared and evaluated the advantages and disadvantages of various approaches for addressing unfunded pension liabilities and post-employment benefits; and 3) Proposed short and long-term plans for addressing unfunded pension liabilities and post-employment benefits.