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From YouTube: Committee on Labor and Civil Service 11-12-2021
Description
The Committee on Labor and Civil Service of the Council of the City of Philadelphia held a Public Hearing on Friday, November 12, 2021, at 10:00 AM to hear testimony on the following item:
210772 An Ordinance amending Title 22 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled “Public Employees Retirement Code,” by codifying the Pension Board’s preexisting policy and practice to perform an annual stress test of the Retirement System in accordance with industry standards, all under certain terms and conditions.
B
How
the
public
may
view
and
offer
public
testimony
at
public
hearings
of
city
council
committees
are
included
in
the
public
hearing,
notices
that
are
published
in
the
daily
news,
inquirer
legal
intelligencer
prior
to
the
hearings
and
can
also
be
found
on
phl
counsel,
dot
com.
I
now
note
that
the
hour
has
come
rachel.
Will
you
please
call
the
role
to
take
attendance
members
that
are
in
attendance?
Will
please
indicate
that
you
are
present
when
your
name
is
called
also.
B
B
C
B
You
rachel
before
we
begin
to
hear
testimony
from
witnesses
we
have
for
today.
Everyone
who
has
been
invited
to
the
meeting
to
testify
should
be
aware
that
this
public
hearing
is
being
recorded,
because
the
hearing
is
public
participants
and
viewers
have
no
reasonable
expectation
of
privacy.
By
continuing
to
be
in
the
meeting,
you
are
consenting
to
being
recorded
additionally
prior
to
recognizing
members
for
questions
and
comments
they
have
for
witnesses.
B
I
will
note
for
the
record
at
this
time
that
we
will
use
the
chat
feature
available
in
microsoft
teams
to
allow
members
to
signify
that
they
wish
to
be
recognized
in
order
to
comply
with
the
sunshine
act.
The
chat
feature
must
only
be
used
for
this
purpose.
Now
before
I
ask
rachel
to
call
the
first
panel
to
to
testify
for
bill
number
two
one:
zero,
seven,
seven
two.
I
want
to
make
some
opening
comments.
B
B
B
While
I
and
my
colleagues
recognize
that
the
pension
board
has
regularly
conducted
and
formally
adopted
annual
stress
testing
in
2019,
it
is
really
advantageous
for
the
city
of
philadelphia
to
emulate
the
best
practices
for
integrating
the
results
of
the
stress
test
analysis
into
the
city's
budget,
planning
and
forecasting
process
similar
to
what
other
jurisdictions
have
done,
and
thus
to
codify
the
existing
policy
and
practice
of
annual
stress
testing
and
reporting.
By
of
the
pension
board.
B
With
this
legislation,
it
is
the
intent
of
city
council
to
codify
the
best
practices
of
this
current
pension
board,
so
as
to
ensure
that
these
practices
survive
any
change
in
leadership
or
membership.
I
look
forward
to
hearing
testimony
today
from
a
few
individuals
that
we
worked
with
in
order
to
make
this
legislation
a
reality.
B
With
that
being
said,
rachel
can
you
please
call
the
first
panel.
We
have
to
testify
this
morning
on
bill
number
two,
one:
zero,
seven,
seven
two
before
you
say
the
names,
I've
gotta
say
to
rob:
dubo
and
fran
bieli.
If
they're
watching,
we've
been
at
this
for
a
very
very
long
time
and
I'm
proud
of
the
work
that
we've
been
able
to
accomplish
together,
no
johnny
come
lately
to
preserving
retirement
security
in
our
city.
B
A
Good
morning
and
thank
you
and
to
members
of
the
committee
for
the
opportunity
to
testify
in
support
of
bill
number
210772
which,
as
you
noted,
would
codify
the
board's
existing
policy
to
perform
and
report
on
annual
stress
tests
of
the
retirement
system.
I
forgot
to
say
my
name:
rob
dubo,
I'm
the
finance
director
and
thank
you
again,
chair
parker
for
this
legislation
and,
as
you
noted
for
your
continuing
support
of
pensions
over
the
years,
we
really
appreciate
it.
A
We
agree
that
stress
testing
is
important
to
understanding
the
risks
that
pension
plans
face
and
helps
to
manage
those
risks.
We
appreciate
your
effort
to
institutionalize
this
type
of
stress
testing
that
the
board
already
undertakes,
and
we
want
to
thank
you
for
the
consideration
and
the
opportunity
to
testify
and
we're
happy
to
answer
any
questions.
You
have.
E
This
policy
statement
was
approved
by
the
pension
board
and
added
in
2019,
and
since
the
release
of
my
office's
analysis
and
the
update
to
the
policy
stress
tests
have
been
completed
regularly.
I
joined
the
other
trustees
of
the
pension
board
in
commending
council
member
parker,
chair
parker
and
city
council
for
building
on
this
work.
I
do
think
it's
very
important
to
codify
this
practice
into
legislation
so
that
it
continues
no
matter
who
the
trustees
of
the
pension
board
are.
So
thank
you,
chair,
parker.
I
truly
appreciate
it.
E
B
F
Madam
chair
members
of
the
committee,
thank
you
very
much
for
having
us
today.
My
name
is
greg
mennis
and
I'm
director
of
the
strengthening
public
sector
retirement
systems
project
at
the
pew
charitable
trust.
Our
project
conducts
nonpartisan
independent
research
and
provides
technical
assistance
to
policy
makers
across
the
country
to
help
ensure
that
state
and
local
retirement
systems
are
sustainable,
affordable
and
secure.
F
My
comment,
the
commentary
this
morning
will
include
a
brief
overview
of
public
pension.
Stress
testing
touch
on
pew's
previous
analysis
of
philadelphia's
retirement
system,
including
the
significant
progress
the
city
has
made
in
recent
years
on
pension
sustainability
and
then
discuss
some
thoughts
on
how
this
bill
we
think,
will
be
useful
going
forward.
F
In
effect,
these
analyses
examine
what-if
scenarios,
for
example,
what
if
investment
returns,
are
higher
or
lower
than
expected,
and
are
designed
to
help
policymakers
a
sense
to
assess
the
potential
impacts
of
financial
market
risk
and
economic
uncertainty
on
both
the
pension
balance
sheets
and
the
government
budgets.
To
date,
13
states
have
adopted
policies
similar
to
what
you
are
considering
today,
including
the
state
of
pennsylvania.
F
F
And-
and
that
suggests
the
fiscal
health
of
the
pension
will
continue
to
improve,
but
we
also
see
that
the
share
of
city
revenue
is
expected
to
go
down
as
part
of
these
actions
and
in
fact,
just
last
year,
the
city's
efforts
to
achieve
these
results
were
recognized
by
the
government
finance
officers
association
when
philadelphia
received
the
2020
award
for
excellence
in
government
finance,
specifically
for
the
work
done
on
pensions.
So,
with
that
background
in
mind,
how
would
this
bill
we
are
discussing
today
help
to
inform
policy
makers
in
the
future?
F
And,
as
I
noted,
much
of
the
work
is
already
being
done
by
the
pension
plans
themselves,
and
I
think
the
bill
rightly
provides
for
discretion
to
ensure
that
the
analysis
is
fit
for
the
purpose
of
examining
the
most
pressing
risks
at
any
given
time
and
to
understand
what
that
means.
I
think
we
look
no
further
than
the
recent
economic
volatility
since
the
beginning
of
the
covet
19
pandemic.
F
So
just
the
stress
testing
helped
to
navigate
the
fiscal
challenges
during
the
initial
months
of
the
pandemic.
It
can
also
help
cities
and
states
to
navigate
the
current
environment
and
I'd
like
to
provide
a
few
examples
of
how
we
look
at
this
issue
both
nationally
and
how
it
might
apply
to
philadelphia,
although
I
would
hasten
to
add
these
are
thoughts
that
we
put
forward
with
clear
deference
to
the
plan
administrators,
the
actuaries
and
city
officials
who
have
done
such
an
excellent
job
on
managing
these
issues.
F
First,
off
with
investment
returns
of
27
percent,
and
that's
essentially,
the
number
philadelphia
achieved
as
well,
there's
a
significant
increase
of
unexpected
gains
in
pension
coffers
and
our
estimation
will
improve
the
funded
ratio
to
something
in
the
neighborhood
of
60
percent
and
that's
really
significant
progress.
At
the
same
time.
F
And
it's
also
true
that
significant
gains,
in
our
estimation,
are
going
to
provide
a
substantial
increase
in
the
pension
adjustment
fund.
And
that's
something
that's
been
set
aside
to
help
workers
in
retirement
and
so
analysis
related
to
that
issue
is
something
I
think
might
also
be
a
consideration,
as
you
all
are
looking
at
this
report
on
a
regular
basis
and
then,
finally,
I
think
we
also
see
this
as
more
of
an
opportunity
rather
than
a
problem
as
it
relates
to
philly.
And
by
that
I
mean
the
city
has
taken
such
incredible
steps.
B
B
D
You
so
much
madam
chair.
I
just
wanted
to
pause
for
the
opportunity
to
thank
you
and
to
thank
your
team
members
of
the
pension
board,
pew
charitable
trust
and
everyone
who
worked
together
on
this
most
important
piece
of
legislation.
We
know
that
from
the
2020
award
that
our
pension
board
and
fund
has
been
performing
rather
well.
We
know
that
this
is
just
another
step
in
the
right
direction
to
ensure
that
our
pension
fund
is
healthy
for
all
of
our
retirees
and
for
our
future
retirees.
So
I
just
wanted
to
say
thank
you
all.
B
Thank
you
and
councilman
councilmember
gilmore
richardson
before
you
go
off
screen.
Let
me
just
also
note,
for
the
benefit
of
you
in
public
that
you
have
also
expressed
and-
and
I've
been
pleased
to
note,
your
laser
focus
on
the
issue
of
retirement
security
here
in
the
city
of
philadelphia,
and
I
just
wanted
to
thank
you
as
well
for
your
work
on
this
very
important
issue.
B
Hearing
none,
I
want
to
thank
all
of
the
witnesses
for
their
participation.
Today,
we
value
your
opinions.
I
now
invite
all
witnesses
to
please
disconnect
from
the
hearing
before
we
go
into
our
public
meeting.
We
will
now
pause
the
proceedings
briefly
and
multiple
participants
will
leave
the
hearing.
B
This
concludes
the
public
hearing
of
the
committee
on
bill
number.
Two,
one:
zero,
seven,
seven
two.
We
will
now
go
into
the
public
meeting
to
consider
the
action
to
be
taken
on
this
bill.
We
will
now
convene
the
public
meeting
rachel.
Will
you
please
call
the
role
to
take
attendance
members
that
are
in
attendance?
Will
please
indicate
that
you
are
present
when
your
name
is
called
also,
please
say
a
few
brief
words
when
responding
so
that
your
image
will
be
displayed
on
the
screen
when
you
speak.
B
C
D
B
D
B
The
chair
notes
for
the
record
that
council
member
dom
seconds
the
motion.
It
has
been
moved
and
properly
seconded
that
bill
number
210772
be
reported
from
this
committee,
with
the
favorable
recommendation
and
further
move
that
the
rules
of
council
be
suspended
to
permit
first
reading
of
this
bill
at
the
next
session
of
council.
All
those
in
favor
of
the
motion
will
signify
by
saying
I
I
I
the
those
opposed
the
eyes
have
it
and
the
motion
carries.
This
concludes
the
business
before
the
committee
on
labor
and
civil
service
today
and
to
my
council
colleagues.