L&I Moves to Shore Up Last of Reserve Accounts

Having shored up two reserve accounts that were drawn down to mitigate premium increases during the recession, the Washington state Department of Labor and Industries is opening talks to address pension reserves that may be underfunded by $735 million because of overly optimistic projections about investment returns. When calculating new total permanent disability pensions, the department takes into consideration that an annuity will increase in value each year and discounts the amount of money that needs to held in reserve. The pension discount rate is 6.2%, but L&I actuaries believ...