What does 2012 hold, both in terms of policy and politics, for the developing relationship between public-sector workers and taxpayers? What does a proactive reform agenda for 2012 look like? Is a pro-reform platform a winning issue for reformers or their opponents? This event will address these and other questions in two panel discussions.

Nebraska's CB plans are innovative and could be a model for other states to follow as they try and bring their budgets and pensions under control. Yet there are other, more transparent and taxpayer-friendly ways Nebraska could construct the pension system.

Fringe benefits for Ohio public workers are more than twice as generous as those paid in the private sector, meaning that when pay and benefits are taken into consideration public workers receive 31.2 percent more in total compensation than private‐sector counterparts.

Federal workers receive both a wage premium and a benefits premium over similar private workers. State and local workers see a wage penalty, but the penalty is usually more than made up for in higher benefits.

Market-based measures of public pensions funding may better informstate governments and taxpayers of the liabilities and risks they face.

Trying to put an estimated value on job security when comparing federal jobs to private-sector jobs.

Public sector pensions are not discretionary government spending, which can be reduced to maintain affordability. They are deferred pay earned as part of a legally binding contract of employment, and their true cost should be properly measured.