Catherwood LibraryILR School

The nation?s 50 states and the largest cities will soon be required to disclose the value of the health care they have promised their retired workers. The prospect of that disclosure, under a new accounting rule, is not a happy one for governments. Cities or states that have already calculated the price of their retirement promises have often found the figures to be alarmingly high, angering taxpayer groups and posing a potential threat to government bond ratings. Now Texas wants to opt out of the whole process, and hopes to persuade other states to join it. State Senator Robert Duncan, a Republican from Lubbock, has introduced a bill that would make the new accounting rule inoperable in Texas.