Congress raised the debt limit this year to prevent a government default. They are working to agree on next year's budget by Sept. 30.

UPDATE 1/10/23 - Texas' 88th legislative session adjourned on Jan. 10 after completing opening ceremonies during which Gov. Greg Abbott congratulated newly elected and re-elected members of the House and Senate as well as Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, who was reelected today as House Speaker for the session.

At 10 a.m. CST on Thursday, Dec. 8, the Texas Pension Review Board will meet to review the actuarial soundness and compliance of state and local government public retirement systems. Those interested in managing public employee pension systems may attend in person or via videoconference. 

It's election day in the United States. Here's what you need to know as you head to the polls.

The Texas Pension Review Board meets at 10 a.m. CT on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, in Austin at the Capitol Extension, Room E2.028, located at 1100 Congress Avenue. 

There's a lot of research out there, especially regarding retirement, pensions, and investment management. And it seems everyone conducts and publishes it in some form - books, briefs, multi-page reports.

In its latest meeting, the Texas Pension Review Board's Investment Committee made it clear that it intends to request pension funds to report on how their investment portfolios are structured to meet real-time expectations for outflow benefit payments to retirees. 

In 2018, public pension benefit dollars represented between 0.4% and 1.1% on average of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for each county type in Texas. New research indicates that public pension plans have a particularly positive economic impact on small towns and rural communities.

Want to save on your travel expenses for TEXPERS' 2022 Summer Educational Forum in El Paso, Texas, Aug. 21-23, 2022? Reduce your costs by saving on your room, but do it quickly before the special rate ends on July 29!

Texas Association of Public Retirement Pension Systems, a statewide nonprofit organization providing education to trustees and administrators of public employee pension funds, is pleased to announce Federated Hermes, Wolf Popper, and Napier Park as sponsors of its upcoming conference in El Paso, Texas. The firms are Silver Sponsors of TEXPERS' 2022 Summer Educational Forum Aug. 21-23 at Hotel Paso Del Norte in El Paso, Texas.

The Texas Pension Review Board committee creating rules for implementing House Bill 3898 accepted new, flexible proposals from the staff at its May meeting. The rules will be presented to the full Board on July 14 and the official public comment period will begin. Ultimate consideration of all comments and changes is planned for the October PRB meeting.

The Texas Pension Review Board is holding a board meeting at 10 a.m. CST on Thursday, July 14, 2022. The Board's Investment Committee will gather later that afternoon.

Robert "Bob" May, a former actuary member of the Texas Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems through his more than 50-year career as a principal actuary at Rudd and Wisdom Inc., died May 24, 2022. 

Amundi Asset Management is serving as a Gold Keynote Sponsor of TEXPERS' 2022 Summer Educational Forum to be held Aug. 21-23, 2022, in El Paso, Texas.

TerraCap Management is a Gold Keynote Sponsor of TEXPERS' 2022 Summer Educational Forum to be held Aug. 21-23, 2022, in El Paso, Texas, and is sending its founder, W. Stephen Hagenbuckle as a keynote speaker for the event’s opening session.

Interest rates have been on a secular decline since the early-1980s after Paul Volcker pushed short-term rates to nearly 20% to beat back inflation.  Today, by comparison, the Fed Funds rate is targeted between 0.25% and 0.50%.  Unfortunately, as interest rates fell, pension discount rates have barely budged, leading to a widening “yield gap” between what plan fiduciaries expect to receive from the market and what the market can realistically provide.

When it comes to tackling climate change, there is some consensus around what needs to be done—but solving for the how is much more complicated. In some ways, the urgency around this question has intensified amid the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. While extremely concerning from a humanitarian perspective, the conflict has also accelerated the thinking around energy security and energy independence.

We believe the COVID-19 crisis has facilitated a fundamental reshaping of society in how people shop and pay, along with how businesses interact with their employees, customers, and other businesses.

The Texas House Pension, Investments and Financial Services Committee is hosting a public hearing at 10 a.m. CT on Monday, June 6, 2022, regarding the operation of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas and its school district employee benefits program participation. 

Below is a list of upcoming or recently held interim Texas legislative hearings TEXPERS' System Members and others interested in managing public employee pensions in the state might be interested in following. The topics either directly or indirectly impact pension management or governance issues.