Friday, June 12, 2009

If Massachusetts can get this right...

In a search for examples of good government, Massachusetts is not usually going to provide much guidance. But one provision in a public employee pension reform bill their legislature passed unanimously Thursday could help Kentucky.

What they did was repeal a big pension enhancement for former legislators. Kentucky currently allows former legislators who go to work in a higher paying government job to switch their pension credit for time in the General Assembly so they get benefits as if they were in the higher paying job all along.

We're already $30 billion in the hole on Kentucky's public pensions. This would be a good place to stop digging.