Licht: Reamortization Still on the Table

The public debate over pension reform has not focused, lately, on reamortization: refinancing the state's pension obligation and pushing some of the pain down the road.

Then-candidate Lincoln Chafee suggested the move during the gubernatorial campaign. But the idea seemed to have faded. Well, in a recent interview with the Phoenix, Chafee's director of administration Richard Licht says reamortization is still alive.

The move, he emphasizes, would come in conjunction with significant pension reform - perhaps cutting into the regular cost of living adjustments public employees have come to expect in retirement.

But it could help to blunt the impact of reform, handing a partial victory to organized labor.