A Citizen's Guide to Kentucky's Pension Crisis | Page 7

How bad is it?
A July 2015 report by the Pew Charitable Trusts compared state pension funding

THE BASICS
ILLINOIS IS THE ONLY STATE

levels for all 50 states. (The Public Sector Retirement Systems Project at Pew

RANKED LOWER THAN KENTUCKY

annually tracks state pension funding and has advised the Kentucky General

ON PENSION FUNDING.

Assembly on pension reform.) Kentucky ranked 49 out of 50 states—only Illinois

According to a report by the Pew
Charitable Trusts, Kentucky ranked 49th

ranked lower. The report found the national average state pension funding level to

out of 50 states on pension funding levels.

be 71.8%. Kentucky’s combined funding level for all its systems was only 44.2%.

Only Illinois ranked lower.

A downgrade of Illinois’ credit rating due

To put this in a different perspective: Kentucky’s total unfunded

to pension liabilities increased the cost of

pension liability of $36.4 billion in FY 2015 was more than three

a $1.3 billion bond issue for constru