Louisiana lawmakers reject UAL payments

The Louisiana legislature has rejected a measure which would beging paying down the unfunded accrued liabilities of that state's public employee and teacher retirement systems.

A bill that would lock the state into paying off more of its retirement debt each year was narrowly rejected by the Senate Finance Committee.

The Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System and the Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana are (b) billions of dollars short of what they will owe employees when they retire, a debt that falls on the state to pay over time and grows the longer it takes to pay.

Senator Walter Boasso proposed the state put more money toward that debt in a bill that would cost the state 111 (m) million dollars in the upcoming fiscal year that begins July first.

Boasso says there's never going to be a right time to start paying down the debt.

Opponents of traditional public pensions like to blame system members for the drain on state and local budgets. The real culprits are lawmakers who refuse to make responsible decisions about keeping their promises to generations of hard-working public employees.