Annual Meeting Public Plan Sessions

In May 2024 the CCA released an exposure draft of a revision to their white paper “Actuarial Funding Policies and Practices for Public Pension Plans.” Speakers at this session review what is new in “white paper 2.0” including areas where the public sector community was invited to comment.

The Committee on Retirement Benefits Administration (CORBA) of the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) issues best practices (do this) and advisories (don’t do this) related to public pension and OPEB plans. In the last two years, CORBA has made a strong effort to review and update these documents. Speakers at this session discuss what’s new and notable within CORBA’s best practices and advisories. These will include the Best Practice on “Core Elements of a Funding Policy for Governmental Pension and OPEB Plans”, the Best Practice on “Sustainable Funding Practices for Defined Benefit Pensions and OPEB”, and potentially a fresh update to the Advisory on “Pension Obligation Bonds”. BP – Core elements of funding policy for pensions/OPEB BP – Sustainable funding practices for pensions/OPEB Advisory – Pension Obligation Bonds

The low interest rate environment of the last 15 years has resulted in public retirement systems increasing the usage of leverage and alternative investments to enhance returns. Speakers explore how these strategies have evolved over the years and what the actuary should consider when reviewing capital market assumptions. Hear directly from investment and retirement system experts.

Come participate in a discussion where we will compare and contrast ADEC and fixed rate plans, as well as discuss possible impact of contribution lags, output smoothing, level-dollar payments, on UAAL and other ASOP 4 issues.

System administrators discuss pension reforms they’ve implemented. Hear them compare and contrast various methods of risk sharing and cost management, successes, failures, and lessons learned.

The CCA Public Plans Community meets to discuss current issues, outlooks, and news. Neither CCA nor Public Plans Community membership is required to attend.

Speakers cover a variety of topics related to OPEB Funding, including key elements of an OPEB contribution policy, the advantages and drawbacks to OPEB pre-funding, and the similarities and differences between OPEB and pension pre-funding.

This is an open forum on topics of interest to public sector actuaries. The topics are selected by session attendees and may include: funding to surplus, volatility management, impact of higher interest rates on plan design, economic assumptions including ASOP 27, and ASOP 4.