Another state looks at cutting back

Virginia state Delegate Harry R. Purkey filed a bill Monday to freeze his state's public employee pension plan and replace it with a 401-k type program in which taxpayers could better better manage future liabilities.

Kentucky Rep. Bill Farmer filed a similar bill here in 2007.

Despite Kentucky's fast-growing unfunded liability in its pension plans, a similar change is extremely unlikely as both House Democrats and Senate Republicans oppose the idea.

But as more legislators in more states look for ways to deal with unaffordable government, the idea of trimming unlimited growth of programs is going to keep coming around.

If nothing else, we have to get used to the idea of pouring a lot more money into our expensive benefits plans than we are used to. And delaying the inevitable really isn't an option any longer.