Pennsylvania is not alone in its public pension problems. Other states have struggled as well.

Nationwide, total debt facing state pension plans is $915 billion, according to the Public Sector Retirement Systems project of the Pew Charitable Trusts. “Only 15 states have consistently made at least 95 percent of the full actuarially required contributions for their pension plans from 2010 through 2012; the remaining 35 states (including Pennsylvania) fell short in at least one year,” according to the project website. And since last fall, the director of that project, Greg Mennis, has been trying to help Pennsylvania solve its pension problems.

In an interview last week, Mennis said his group has offered three basic pieces of advice to Mike Brubaker, R-36th, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and John P. Blake, D-22nd, the committee’s minority chair. “First, Pennsylvania has to commit to paying the current bill; second, we think they should establish a funding task force or study commission to come up with a comprehensive and transparent solution to this long-standing problem; and third, if that solution is some kind of hybrid plan design, that they consider a simple and proven hybrid model,” Mennis said.

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Source: Daily Local News, www.dailylocal.com, by Evan Brandt, posted 07/28/14, 4:55 PM EDT.