Pledge shows support for legislative pension-system transparency, gives citizens another accountability tool and opens the door to future reforms

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016

Contact: Jim Waters @ 270.320.4376

(LEXINGTON, Ky.) —  Nearly 70 incumbents and candidates for state House and Senate seats vowed support for open, accessible and accountable government by signing the newly created Bluegrass Institute Legislative Pension Transparency Pledge. A complete list of pledge signers can be viewed here. The 67-word pledge vows support for “making the commonwealth’s legislative pension system fully transparent, including requiring the disclosure of the name, status and projected actual retirement benefits and benefit payments from the Legislators’ Retirement Plan, Judicial Retirement Plan, Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System and Kentucky Retirement Systems of all current and former members of the General Assembly.”

Copies of the pledge and a self-addressed stamped envelope were sent in September to all incumbents and challengers seeking state legislative offices on the Nov. 8 ballot, as well as retiring lawmakers or those who lost primary bids.

“The pledge is a tool to assist constituents in holding their legislators accountable while also giving conscientious policymakers an effective means of taking an important step forward toward further reforming Kentucky’s worst-in-the-nation public-pension crisis,” Bluegrass Institute president Jim Waters said. “Transparency will create an army of well-informed citizens, equipping them to demand and support policies that effectively address the biggest threat to the commonwealth’s economic security.”

Lawmakers or candidates wanting to add their name to the list may do so by signing the pledge and sending it to the Bluegrass Institute at P.O. Box 11706, Lexington, KY 40577-1706.

A copy of the pledge for signing may be printed out here.

For more information, please contact Jim Waters at jwaters@freedomkentucky.com, 859.444.5630 ext. 102 (office) or 270.320.4376.