By Steven Allen Adams | West Virginia Watchdog
CHARLESTON — If senators agree with changes to the legislation, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin can add finding funding for the state’s multi-billion dollar retiree health care debt to his list of successes since officially becoming Governor in November.
The West Virginia House of Delegates passed SB469, Gov. Tomblin’s proposal [...]

By Steven Allen Adams | West Virginia Watchdog
CHARLESTON — Republicans in the West Virginia House of Delegates tried to amend Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin‘s legislation to pay down the state’s retiree health care debt after raising concerns about the bill’s specifics.
House Republicans offered five amendments to SB469, with all five failing. Two failed by voice [...]

By Steven Allen Adams | West Virginia Watchdog
CHARLESTON — Another week has gone by, inching us closer to the halfway mark of the West Virginia Legislature’s 2012 general session. Feb. 9 will be the 30 day mark of the 60-day session.
As of today 1,608 bills have been introduced between the House of Delegates and the [...]

By Steven Allen Adams | West Virginia Watchdog
CHARLESTON — The West Virginia Senate put Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s public retiree health care funding proposal on the fast track to full passage by the Legislature later this week.
The state Senate suspended the rules requiring a bill be read on three separate days before passage and sent [...]

By Steven Allen Adams | West Virginia Watchdog
CHARLESTON — This could be the year that West Virginia finally deals with its multi-billion dollar retiree health care debt.
A bill proposed by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin during his State of the State address, SB 469, was introduced in the West Virginia Senate this morning and passed out [...]

By Steven Allen Adams | West Virginia Watchdog
CHARLESTON — Now with Marcellus Shale regulations in the bag, the West Virginia Senate is turning its attention to the retiree health care liability.
Senate President Jeff Kessler (D-Marshall) appointed five state senators to a subcommittee to study the multi-billion dollar other post-employment benefit liability.
“West Virginia’s fiscal house is [...]

UPDATE 4:15 p.m. – Added clarification from Governor Tomblin’s office regarding OPEB legislation.
By Steven Allen Adams | West Virginia Watchdog
CHARLESTON — After years of ignoring the issue, 2012 could be the year the state addresses its substantial public employee retiree health care debt.
According to the state Public Employee Insurance Agency, the state’s other post-employment benefit [...]

Senate President and Acting Governor Earl Ray Tomblin (left) and Republican businessman Bill Maloney (right) pose for pictures before their second debate with West Virginia MetroNews Talkline host Hoppy Kercheval. (Courtesty photo/WVBA)
By Steven Allen Adams | West Virginia Watchdog
CHARLESTON — What started out as a debate on issues facing West Virginia became an exchange of [...]

By Zachary Janowski
The way states and local governments account for pensions is about to change — slowly.
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board, a nonprofit based in Norwalk, Conn., released a draft of changes to pension accounting rules Friday. These changes will first affect government balance sheets in fiscal year 2014.
The most significant change in the proposal [...]

Image via Wikipedia

By STEVEN ALLEN ADAMS
steven@westvirginiawatchdog.org
Over the last few weeks and the West Virginia Center for Budget and Policy and their parent organization, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, have published articles and reports concerning pensions and other post-employment debt (OPEB), such as retiree health care costs.
They’re bottom line is this: don’t panic. I [...]