A top SEC official said yesterday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's scrutiny of public pension liabilities will not let up any time soon, Reuters reported yesterday. Pension disclosure will be "a continuing and very significant theme of the SEC," said John Cross, head of the SEC's Office of Municipal Securities. The SEC has cracked down on pension and disclosure problems, hitting Illinois in March with charges for not adequately informing investors about the liabilities. The SEC had brought similar charges against New Jersey in 2010. Both states settled the charges without admitting or denying them. The SEC has also caught Harrisburg, Pa., and Miami in its regulatory net for allegedly making misleading statements and omissions in bond documents. The Pew Center on the States has reported that bigger cities faced a collective pension liability of $217 billion in fiscal 2009, while states had a shortfall of $757 billion for retiree pensions in fiscal 2010.
