The Public Pension Management and Asset Investment Review Commission conducted an organizational meeting to initiate a review of the Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) and the Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS).
State Rep. Mike Tobash (R-125th District) and Pennsylvania Treasurer Joe Torsella currently serve as Commission chair and vice chair, respectively.
“As the chairman and a pension reform advocate, I am committed to working with all of the members to achieve billions in savings, which benefit all Pennsylvanians, whether they are in the retirement systems now or a taxpayer,” Tobash said. “Pennsylvania has been an outlier on fees, and our taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay excessive fees. I am grateful that the work I have done on this issue in the past allows me to be in a position to help Pennsylvania taxpayers.”
Established under the broader pension reforms of Act 5 of 2017, the Commission is tasked with conducting a comprehensive review of PSERS and SERS investment management, including recommending improvements to both systems’ stress testing and fee reporting transparency and analyzing SERS and PSERS assets, investment strategies, investment performance, fees, costs, and procedures against established benchmarks. It will also develop a plan to identify $1.5 billion in cost savings over 30 years for each of the two systems.
Ashby Monk, executive director of the Stanford University of Global Projects Center, has been retained by the Treasury to assist with the review.
“I look forward to the review of both PSERS and SERS as an important step to fully evaluate how and where tax dollars and employee contributions are being spent,” Torsella said. “I am confident that together with the assistance of Dr. Monk we will be able to develop a set of recommendations to the legislature and Governor that will not only save taxpayer money, but reduce unnecessary risks and costs without compromising performance.”
The Commission has six months to complete its review of both PSERS and SERS, reporting findings and recommendations to Gov. Tom Wolf and the General Assembly.