This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Saturday, October 22,

I'm Caleb Brown.

Kentucky is among the worst states when it comes to state pension funding

and in order to keep promises made in so-called inviolable

contracts states like Kentucky might have to lean on taxpayers even more to fund

those lofty promises to state workers.

Allison Ball is the state treasurer in Kentucky.

She also sits on the Kentucky Teacher Retirement System Board.

We spoke last month.

Kentucky is, for many many years has been one of the worst performers when it comes to the management

operation, funding levels of its state pensions. That's county employees, that's state employees,

and state police, I suppose, and some other smaller pension funds.

There doesn't, the pain is coming.

There is pain to come related to these pension funds because it the lawmakers don't have an

incentive to fund them properly and that's that's just a long-standing problem in

in many states yeah in many states.

Yeah in many states.

Kentucky is you know maybe the worst.

It's definitely like one of the it's been one of the top three or lowest three however you want to describe that in recent years.

I am encouraged that I feel like it's better than it's been in the past and

and probably the main reason why I'm encouraged is because I think there has been an

awareness of how serious this problem is and you have to fund it. So in the past, you know, governors and general

...