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Report: Mississippi’s pension system faces serious financial headwinds | Mississippi

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www.thecentersquare.com – By Steve Wilson | – 2023-05-24 11:09:00

(The Center Square) — An annual by the 's legislative watchdog committee warns that Mississippi's public defined benefit pension system is facing serious financial and demographic challenges.

The Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure , better known as the PEER Committee, released its annual review of the Public Employee's Retirement System of Mississippi, which is the pension fund for the vast majority of state, county and municipal employees.

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According to the report, the plan is expected to be only 48.6% fully funded by 2047, a significant drop from the optimistic 93.5% predicted by the 2021 projections. The plan's ratio, which is defined as the share of future obligations covered by current assets, has been 61.3% for the last two years.

In fiscal 2022, the plan's investments lost 8.45% after amassing a near-record 32.71% in 2021.

The report echoed the data released in the fund's comprehensive annual report, which is usually released in December.

One issue is flagging investment returns. The retirement system's board of directors voted in 2021 to decrease the expected rate of return from 7.75% to 7%, which staff uses for planning purposes. It's the second time in the past decade the governing board has acted after lowering the expectation from an unrealistic 8% in 2015.

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The plan's funding policy, which requires enough excess returns above expectations to lower the assumed rate of return, has only the rate to be reduced to 7.55%, which PEER says is problematic.

“The PERS Board's choice to utilize this methodology could continue to be a cause of concern,” the report says. “Selection of this methodology has delayed implementation of the assumption reduction and exacerbated the plan's lower-than-projected investment returns.”

The report also says the plan's demographics are also an issue as a decreasing number of contributing employees an ever-growing number of retirees. The plan's ratio of active members to retirees declined from 1.81:1 in FY 2012 to 1.24:1 in FY 2022, or approximately 31.49%.

The report also said the plan's assumptions on pay increases for contributing employees, which affects the amount of they'll in retirement, are overly optimistic, which can affect the plan's bottom line. The projected annual rate of wage increase is 2.65% and while increases from fiscal 2022 were above that figure, the annual payroll increase in the last decade was 0.98%.

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Attorneys general say EPA water rule is costly and unlawful | Arkansas

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www.thecentersquare.com – By Kim Jarrett | – 2024-03-27 12:00:00

(The Center Square) – A proposed Environmental Protection Agency rule that would monitor indirect wastewater discharges from slaughterhouses is unlawful and would be costly to businesses, 27 attorneys general said in a letter to the agencies.

The EPA monitors wastewater discharge from 171 of the 5,055 meat and poultry product facilities in the United States, according to the letter led by Kansas Kris Kobach and Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin. The new rule would affect nearly 3,800 producers, some -owned farms in Arkansas, according to Griffin.

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Poultry generates the most cash receipts of any other agricultural product in Arkansas, according to information from the Arkansas Farm Bureau. One in four agrarian are in poultry production, according to the Farm Bureau.

“The EPA's proposed rule would add additional regulations on processing plants with indirect wastewater discharges—discharges that are already treated by a municipal or other wastewater treatment facility, which are themselves subject to EPA regulations,” the attorneys general said in the letter. “That's an extra layer of regulation that doesn't accomplish anything. And the EPA lacks the legal authority to impose such regulations.”

The rule is part of a settlement of a North Carolina filed against the EPA by several environmental groups of the discharge of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, into the water.

“Under the consent decree, EPA has obligations to sign a notice of proposed rulemaking by December 13, 2023 and to sign a taking final action on the proposal by August 31, 2025,” the agency said in its filing.

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Some judges have questioned using a settlement as the basis of rulemaking, according to the attorneys general.

“Finally, it appears that EPA is relying primarily on data put together by the groups that were suing them to up with this rule,” the letter said. “This practice not only puts forward poor policy but also harms the integrity of our judicial system. This administration must stop abusing the legal system in order to achieve results it otherwise cannot get.”

The EPA said in its filing the rule would “improve water quality and protect human and the by reducing the discharge of nutrients and other pollutants to the nation's surface waters.” The agency met with the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, National Pork Producers Council, North American Meat Institute, the North American Renderers Association and the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, the agency said.

“The preferred option is estimated to cost $232 million annually and reduce pollutant discharges by approximately 100 million pounds per year,” EPA said.

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16 states, led by Gulf states, sue Biden administration over LNG export ban | National

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www.thecentersquare.com – By Bethany Blankley | contributor – 2024-03-22 06:39:00

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Attorneys general coalition ask Ninth Circuit to intervene in Mayorkas asylum case | National

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www.thecentersquare.com – By Bethany Blankley | contributor – 2024-03-20 11:27:00

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