{"id":7437,"date":"2012-06-19T10:41:08","date_gmt":"2012-06-19T15:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=7437"},"modified":"2012-06-19T10:42:27","modified_gmt":"2012-06-19T15:42:27","slug":"serious-concern-oklahoma-had-the-sixth-lowest-pension-funding-percentage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2012\/06\/19\/serious-concern-oklahoma-had-the-sixth-lowest-pension-funding-percentage\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Serious Concern:&#8217; Oklahoma Had the Sixth Lowest Pension Funding Percentage"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_7438\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pewstates.org\/uploadedFiles\/PCS_Assets\/2012\/widening%20gap%20factsheets_Oklahoma.pdf\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7438\" style=\"border: 1px solid black;\" title=\"Widening Gap Factsheet\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2012\/06\/oklahoma-pension-factsheet.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"388\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2012\/06\/oklahoma-pension-factsheet.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2012\/06\/oklahoma-pension-factsheet-116x150.jpg 116w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2012\/06\/oklahoma-pension-factsheet-232x300.jpg 232w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Pew Center on the States<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Click here for a large .pdf version of the Oklahoma fact-sheet.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>From 2005-2010, the State of Oklahoma failed to consistently pay its annual pension contribution in full, according to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tulsaworld.com\/news\/article.aspx?subjectid=13&articleid=20120619_13_A7_SPRING345461&rss_lnk=1\">a new analysis<\/a> from the Pew Center on the States.<\/p><p>In fiscal year 2010, the state pension system was 56 percent funded and faced a $16 billion funding gap. &#8220;Fiscally sustainable&#8221; pension systems should maintain at least 80 percent funding, experts tell Pew researchers.<\/p><p>State lawmakers say pension reforms passed in 2011 and 2012 will help reduce the gap, but Oklahoma&#8217;s long-term management of unfunded pension liabilities is cause for &#8220;serious concern,&#8221; researchers conclude.<\/p><p><!--more-->Oklahoma only paid 70 percent of the recommended contribution to its pension plans in 2010, &#8220;and just 79 percent of what the state should have paid to fund retiree health benefits,&#8221; pew researchers say.<\/p><p>And in 2011, state lawmakers raised the retirement age for new employees to 65 from 62 and capped annual cost-of-living adjustments for retirees, according to the report. (Right-click <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pewstates.org\/uploadedFiles\/PCS_Assets\/2012\/Pew_Pensions_Update.pdf\">here<\/a> to download.)<\/p><p>Here&#8217;s how Oklahoma pensions compared to its neighbors:<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\">Pension\u00a0Liability\u00a0Funding in 2010<\/h4>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>State<\/th>\n<th>% Funded<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Oklahoma<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>56%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Arkansas<\/td>\n<td>75%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Colorado<\/td>\n<td>66%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Kansas<\/td>\n<td>62%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Missouri<\/td>\n<td>77%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>New Mexico<\/td>\n<td>72%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Texas<\/td>\n<td>83%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pewstates.org\/research\/data-visualizations\/the-widening-gap-interactive-85899377237\">Source<\/a>: &#8220;The Widening Gap Update,&#8221; Pew Center on the States<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From 2005-2010, the State of Oklahoma failed to consistently pay its annual pension contribution in full, according to a new analysis from the Pew Center on the States.In fiscal year 2010, the state pension system was 56 percent funded and faced a $16 billion funding gap. &#8220;Fiscally sustainable&#8221; pension systems should maintain at least 80 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,300],"tags":[185,355],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7437"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7437"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7442,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7437\/revisions\/7442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}