NEW: Joint Session On Pensions Kicks Off Tonight
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Member of the General Assembly will meet for a joint session this evening at the Renaissance Providence Hotel, kicking off a series of September hearings on the issue by the House and Senate Finance Committees.
Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed and Speaker of House Gordon Fox have invited two pension experts to offer opinions of how to address Rhode Island’s pension issues.
Kil Huh, research director for the Pew Center on the States, a nonprofit organization with offices in Washington, DC, and Philadelphia that identifies and provides solutions to critical issues facing states. Huh will provide a national perspective on pension issues, an overview on how Rhode Island compares and a review of what states have done to address their pension challenges and how they impact state budgets.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTDiane Oakley, Executive Director of the National Institute on Retirement Security, a nonpartisan non-profit research institute based in Washington, DC. Oakley will provide an overview of the different characteristics of various benefit structures, a summary of attitudes and perspectives of public pensions and how individuals plan for retirement.
The Senate and House Finance Committees will conduct a number of joint hearings on the pension issue, with hearings currently scheduled for September 14, 21 and 28.
The full legislature comes back for a special session in October.