Feb. 12, 2015
HARRISBURG – This week, Rep. Stephen Bloom (R-Cumberland) was appointed by Speaker of the House Mike Turzai to serve as the House majority member of the Board of Trustees of the Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS).
“The PSERS board is responsible for managing the pensions of hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians, including public school teachers, administrators and other school employees,” Bloom explained. “It is crucial that these assets are managed prudently in the best interests of retirees and taxpayers.”
The PSERS Board of Trustees, which consists of 15 members, serves in a fiduciary capacity regarding the investments and disbursements of the PSERS retirement fund.
“I am deeply concerned about resolving our state’s public pension crisis,” Bloom explained.
“I am eager to work with the other members of this board to confront the challenge of meeting the pension obligations while being good stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
In addition to managing assets, the board performs required functions for the administration and execution of the PSERS Code, such as certifying contribution rates, authorizing the actuarial valuation and independent audit of the system and publishing an annual financial statement of the condition of the retirement fund. Members review the activities performed by the system’s executive director and chief investment officer.
Bloom notes that because he personally refuses the pension benefits granted to state legislators, he will have an independent and impartial perspective as a member of the board.
PSERS is the 19th largest state-sponsored defined benefit public pension fund in the nation. It has assets of approximately $52 billion, unfunded liabilities of approximately $35 billion and a membership of more than 263,000 active school employees and nearly 214,000 retirees.
Representative Stephen Bloom
199th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Abbey Haslam
717.260.6222
ahaslam@pahousegop.com
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