FRANKFORT, Ky. — Two of Kentucky’s main retirement systems are not following new transparency laws designed to give insight into their investments according to State Auditor Mike Harmon. Tuesday, Auditor Harmon released results of a special examination into KRS (Kentucky Retirement Systems), TRS (Kentucky Teachers Retirement System) and JFRS (Judicial Form retirement System).
Passage of Senate Bill 2 in 2017 created new transparency requirements for the systems. At the time, lawmakers said they were acting out of concern for the public pension funds that have ranked among some of the least sound in the nation.
Ten findings in this special examination included shortcoming from both KRS and TRS to publicly post investment contracts and inconsistent data available to track exact details of unposted contracts.
The Auditor’s office released a quote from Auditor Harmon about the findings that explained, “Simply put, it is vital for the retirement systems to meet all requirements of Senate Bill 2, not just some. Our employees, retirees and taxpayers deserve nothing less. I urge the leadership and boards for all three of Kentucky’s public pension systems to take transparency seriously and follow the recommendations made in our exam report.”
During a news conference announcing the results, Auditor Harmon said he wanted to be clear that his office was not saying that the retirements systems are mismanaging funds, only that they are not complying with Senate Bill 2. He urged leadership of the boards to take transparency seriously.
The special examination process allows for the retirement systems to file responses within 60 days.
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