Title
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.
Body
WHEREAS, In March 2019, the Board of Pensions and Retirement formally adopted its existing practices of conducting, analyzing, and reporting on annual stress testing as a requirement in its Investment Policy Statement; and
WHEREAS, According to The Pew Charitable Trusts, "As of December 2020, 13 states have adopted a formal requirement for regular pension stress testing, including nine states where the requirements adopted are based in whole or in part on Pew's Foundation for Pension Risk Reporting"; and
WHEREAS, According to The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Pension Board's existing pension reporting and risk assessment practices and analyses are robust and in alignment with the methodology of Pew's Foundation for Pension Risk and Reporting; and
WHEREAS, While City Council recognizes the Pension Board has regularly conducted and formally adopted annual stress testing in 2019, it is 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 the Pension Board; and
WHEREAS, 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; now, therefore:
THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA HEREBY ORDAINS:
SECTION 1. Title 22 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Public Employees Retirement Code" is amended as follows:
TITLE 22. PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT CODE
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