Leonard Gilroy
Vice President of Government Reform, Reason Foundation
Leonard Gilroy is Vice President of Government Reform at Reason Foundation and Senior Managing Director of Reason's Pension Integrity Project.
Under Gilroy's leadership, the Pension Integrity Project at Reason Foundation assists policymakers and other stakeholders in designing, analyzing and implementing public sector pension reforms. The project aims to promote solvent, sustainable retirement systems that provide retirement security for government workers while reducing taxpayer and pension system exposure to financial risk and reducing long-term costs for employers/taxpayers and employees. The project team provides education, reform policy options, and actuarial analysis for policymakers and stakeholders to help them design reform proposals that are practical and viable.
Gilroy and the Pension Integrity Project have provided technical assistance to several successful pension reform efforts in recent years in Michigan, Colorado, Arizona, South Carolina and other states aimed at tackling persistent pension solvency challenges.
In his role as vice president, Gilroy also leads Reason's government reform efforts, with over 18 years of experience researching fiscal management, government operations, infrastructure public-private partnerships, government contracting, and urban policy topics. He also regularly consults with federal, state and local officials on ways to improve government performance and efficiency.
Gilroy has a diversified background in policy research and implementation, with particular emphasis on competition, government efficiency, transparency, accountability, and government performance. Gilroy has testified before Congress on several occasions and has testified on pension reform before the Arizona, Florida, Michigan, and Texas legislatures. Gilroy works closely with state and local elected officials across the country in efforts to design and implement market-based policy approaches, improve government performance, enhance accountability in government programs, and reduce government spending.
Gilroy's articles have been featured in such leading publications as The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, The Weekly Standard, Washington Times, Houston Chronicle, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Arizona Republic, San Francisco Examiner, San Diego Union-Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Sacramento Bee, and The Salt Lake Tribune. He has also appeared on CNN, Fox News Channel, Fox Business, CNBC, National Public Radio and other media outlets.
Prior to joining Reason, Gilroy was a senior planner at a Louisiana-based urban planning consulting firm. He also worked as a research assistant at the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research at Virginia Tech. Gilroy earned a B.A. and M.A. in Urban and Regional Planning from Virginia Tech.
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The case for Connecticut’s fiscal guardrails
The “fiscal guardrails” have saved Connecticut more than $170 million and could save $7 billion over the next 25 years.
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Georgia’s teacher pension system needs reforms to address current debt, future risks
The pension plan is still $27.7 billion short on the assets needed to pay for retirement promises made to teachers.
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Delaying Mississippi PERS reform will increase cost to taxpayers
PERS faces a $25.5 billion shortfall largely due to unfunded benefit increases, investment underperformance, and insufficient employer contributions.
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Regulated psilocybin access in Arizona would help treat mental health conditions
Arizona Senate Bill 1570 would create a regulated and limited program to access psilocybin.
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Senate Bill 88 would expose Alaska to significant additional costs
This bill could realistically add $9.6 billion in additional costs to future state budgets and reintroduce Alaska to significant pension risk.
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House Bill 2854 threatens Oklahoma’s pension progress
House Bill 2854 would re-expose Oklahoma to unnecessary unfunded liabilities, financial risks, and hidden costs that would ultimately be borne by taxpayers.
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Redirecting MPSERS’ debt payment could cost taxpayers $1.4 billion
Eliminating a $670 million annual contribution into MPSERS would require an additional $1.4 billion over the next 14 years in net pension payments.
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A policy framework for personal psychedelics licenses
Psychedelic licenses for consumers have advantages over the current approach in two U.S. states that rely on professionals to dispense and facilitate services.
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Major costs and risks associated with restoring the Florida Retirement System’s cost-of-living adjustment
Florida's cost of bringing back COLAs could rise above $32 billion over 30 years.
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Missouri’s bill would revive bad pension funding policy
Pensions should not rely on variable fee revenue streams tied to the volume of activity in the criminal justice system.
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Texas legislature should prioritize open enrollment and TRS reform in special session
School choice and public school advocates should agree to let students attend any public school with open seats and address the Teacher Retirement System's $63 billion debt.
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Examining an Alaska pension reform counterfactual
A look at what would have happened to the Public Employee Retirement System and Teacher Retirement System if proposed pension reforms from 2021 had been enacted.
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Senate Bill 88 would expose Alaska to potentially higher pension costs
Senate Bill 88 would likely cost Alaska more than $8 billion in the coming decades.
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House Bill 22 and Senate Bill 35 threaten Alaska’s budgets
HB 22 and SB 35 would likely cost Alaska upwards of $800 million in the coming decades.
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Senate Bill 11 would bring public pension risk back to Alaska
SB 11 would likely cost Alaska $9 billion in the coming decades.
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Montana’s default retirement benefit option should best serve most public workers
Montana House Bill 226 would better align the default retirement benefit option with what would best most workers need.
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