HARRISBURG – Legislation sponsored by Lancaster County Rep. Brett Miller giving the public greater access to details of how PA‘s pension systems steward billions of beneficiary and taxpayer dollars was approved by the state House. House Bill 1671 would require more transparent management fee reporting standards from PA’s two state employee retirement systems: the State Employees’ Retirement System or SERS and the Public School Employees’ Retirement System or PSERS. Most public retirement systems pay performance-based fees and expenses to external investment managers as part of their compensation, but these fees often go unreported or under-reported. Miller said, “These hidden fees can amount to hundreds of millions, even billions of dollars, which ultimately take away from pension fund balances needed to pay pension obligations.” Since plan participants rely on these funds, and since taxpayers must pay for them, both have a right to know the full extent of plan expenses. The bill passed with bipartisan support and now moves to the state Senate for consideration.
REP. BRETT MILLER