Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy delivered his State of the State address to the General Assembly on the first day of the new legislative session. Malloy outlined his budget proposal for the next fiscal year, and is asking for changes to a severely underfunded pension system.
Malloy said Connecticut’s pension fund system is broken, and, if nothing changes, in the year 2032 the state will have to pay $13 billion dollars in retirement benefits when it reaches what Malloy called "a fiscal cliff."
“The instability created by this cliff is shaking the confidence of the business community and it is looming over the next generation of Connecticut taxpayers,” Malloy said.
House Republican leader Themis Klarides said she's also worried about state pension. She said the state should consider raising co-pays for state employees.
“We have the highest pensions in the USA," she said."We're not trying to hurt people. We're trying to be reasonable. The state can't afford to do it the way we've been doing.”
Malloy said during a press conference last month that the state’s unfunded pension liabilities were a concern among General Electric officials during closed-door meetings about the company’s plan to move its headquarters out of Connecticut.
