Excerpt: A wide range of public sector officials, including scores of fiduciaries, administrators, and participants of NCTR member systems, filed comments with the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) in response to its Invitation to Comment (ITC) on possible revisions to GASB Statements 25 and 27. GASB is considering whether changes to its standards for accounting and reporting on the pension benefits that governments provide to their employees are needed, and had asked for comments on a number of issues related to such possible revisions by July 31, 2009. In addition to pension plans and their board members, state officials and national organizations representing a large majority of users of public pension financial reports also weighed in, stating their strong opposition to the so-called 'Market Valuation of Liabilities' method, or MVL. GASB is also holding a public hearing later in August to discuss the ITC, at which public pension representatives will also testify, as will proponents of MVL.

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