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Unfunded liabilities, pensions and retiree healthcare focus of Gov. Snyder

Andy Schor photo
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Michigan House Democrats
Rep. Andy Schor (D-Lansing)

Gov. Rick Snyder is going after Michigan’s mountain of unfunded retiree liabilities. He has created a task force to look into “responsible retirement reform.”

Last year, Republican lawmakers tried and failed to overhaul public employee pensions and retirement health benefits. They said it was an effort to fix Michigan’s unfunded liability problem.

Now, this task force will come up with a list of pension and health care reforms, hopefully by this spring.

Democratic Rep. Andy Schor is on the committee. He said they are trying to find a balanced approach. “We need to really dig down into what the causes are and how we can appropriately solve this problem," Schor says, "without going after those who have best supported us over many years."

Schor said no local governments will go bankrupt tomorrow, but they need to be proactive.

“We have to make sure that we can pay off those debts in the long term," Schor continues, "and this is a good time to start looking at what can be done...without going after our employees.”

The task force is made up of finance, management and investment experts as well as lawmakers.

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