Politics, Government & Business in California's Inland Empire
By Ed Mendel
July 28, 2014
Bankrupt Detroit announced last week that current workers and retirees voted overwhelmingly to cut many pensions by 4.5 percent and to trim or eliminate cost-of-living adjustments.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014 – 11:30 a.m.
Here’s some news flowing across the transom this Tuesday morning. In case you missed it!
Appeals court deals blow to Obamacare
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled subsidies paid under The Affordable Care Act in states where no exchanges exist are illegal. Meanwhile, within hours, a Virginia Circuit Court of Appeals ruled exactly the opposite.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Jul. 14, 2014 – 12:00 am
Ever since Stockton filed for bankruptcy two years ago, Judge Christopher Klein has strongly hinted that he’s willing – perhaps even eager – to declare that city employee pension obligations are debts that could be trimmed along with those of more conventional creditors.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Jul. 8, 2014 – 11:03 pm
Last Modified: Wednesday, Jul. 9, 2014 – 7:32 am
Government pensions were once considered untouchable, ironclad, off limits even if the employer went bankrupt.
On Tuesday, a federal bankruptcy judge in Sacramento inched closer to changing all that. Commenting during a hearing on Stockton’s bankruptcy case, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein suggested that employees and retirees could have their pensions reduced to facilitate the city’s financial reorganization.
San Bernardino’s deal means pensions off bankruptcy table
By Steven Greenhut1:47 p.m.July 7, 2014
SACRAMENTO — The nation’s largest pension fund, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, has racked up another victory in its effort to halt any effort by municipalities to get out from under their crushing pension obligations.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, July 7, 2014
A bill that started out as Gov. Brown’s proposal to restructure the CalPERS board emerged from the Legislature last week as a more modest change: a requirement that CalPERS board members receive 24 hours of education in pension fund operations.
By TERI SFORZA / STAFF COLUMNIST
Published: July 5, 2014 Updated: July 6, 2014 8:45 a.m.
So let’s start with the bracing news: Orange County cities have promised their workers more than $3.3 billion in retirement benefits that they do not have.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, June 30, 2014
An initiative that would phase out Ventura County employee pensions is headed for a court test, challenged by a union lawsuit contending the change requires state legislation.
Chris Megerian
June 28, 2014
When fifth-grade teacher Maggie Ellis receives her next paycheck at the end of the month, it will be a bit lighter. That’s because she’ll be contributing more money to the teacher pension fund, a small part of a sweeping, long-term plan to repair one of the state’s most difficult financial problems.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
June 24, 2014
Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Tuesday to begin paying down an estimated shortfall of more than $74 billion in the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, acting on the last of a raft of budget-related bills ahead of the July 1 start of the next fiscal year.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, June 23, 2014
Bankrupt San Bernardino announced an agreement with CalPERS last week to pay off an unprecedented pension debt owed for skipping payments to the pension fund for a year — $13.5 million, plus several million more in penalties and interest.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Jun. 18, 2014 – 8:55 pm
CalPERS and bankrupt San Bernardino have reached an “interim agreement” that could head off a major legal battle over bankruptcy debts and the ironclad status of public pensions, the city reported.
By Ed Mendel
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Full funding of the troubled California State Teachers Retirement System was approved by the Legislature last weekend, with most of the additional $5 billion coming from school districts that get no offsetting money from the state.
By Ed Mendel
Mpnday, June 16, 2014
Payments seven judges make toward their pensions would be cut nearly in half by a bill approved last week in a Senate committee, despite a warning from the chairwoman of a “slippery slope” undermining the governor’s pension reform.
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Elections, Recalls, Charter Amendments, Labor Negotiations, and Pension Reform are all ideas bandied about in the effort to right the financial ship of the City of San Bernardino.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, June 9, 2014
Stockton filed a revised debt-cutting plan last week that could lead to a deal with a holdout creditor, Franklin bonds, possibly enabling the city to emerge from bankruptcy without cutting pensions.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, June 2, 2014
A decade ago new accounting rules directed state and local governments to begin calculating and reporting debt owed for health care promised retirees, which for state workers turned out to be more than the debt owed for pensions.
Chris Megerian
May 21, 2014
When Gov. Jerry Brown released his plan for repairing California’s troubled teacher retirement system, his calculations assumed the pension fund would see investment returns of 7.5% over the next three decades.
By Daniel Borenstein, staff columnist
Posted: 05/17/2014 09:00:00 AM PDT
Gov. Jerry Brown last week proposed the first substantive strategy to shore up the state’s woefully underfunded teacher pension plan.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, May. 15, 2014 – 6:16 pm
From the onset of Stockton’s journey through bankruptcy, Judge Christopher Klein has implied, both through comments and rulings, that he sees it as a potential test of whether public employee pensions are debts that could be reduced.
By Ed Mendel
May 14, 2014
Gov. Brown yesterday made a long-delayed proposal to get CalSTRS to full funding over the next three decades, giving the biggest rate hike to schools and smaller increases to the state and teachers.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
May 7, 2014
The state of California is $340.7 billion in debt and while it is on track to repay much of the sum, it’s not doing anything about unfunded liabilities for teacher pensions and state retiree health care, the Legislature’s budget analyst said Wednesday.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, April 28, 2014
When government workers are temporarily promoted shortly before retirement, do they get the same pension increase as a permanent worker in the job — or would that open the door for “spiking,” the intentional tweaking of final pay to boost pensions?
By Ryan Hagen, The Sun
Posted: 04/21/14, 7:03 PM PDT |
Progress in confidential mediation between San Bernardino and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System is promising enough that an aggressive schedule for briefs in CalPERS’ appeal of the city’s bankruptcy has been pushed back.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, April 21, 2014
With a new twist, Stockton’s plan to leave a huge pension debt untouched was still an issue last week as the city council, hoping to end a two-year bankruptcy, approved settlements for 95 percent of the claims.
By Ryan Hagen, The Sun
Posted: 04/17/14, 10:54 PM PDT | Updated: 16 secs ago
CLAREMONT >> Skyrocketing pension costs threatened San Jose’s ability to pay for services and will have the same effect in cities and counties up and down the state if changes aren’t made, that city’s mayor told students and others at Claremont McKenna College on Thursday night.
By Ed Mendel
Thursday, April 17, 2014
The CalPERS board approved a major rate hike yesterday, $459 million, to replenish state worker pension funds that remain low, even though the stock market has rebounded from a post-crash low five years ago.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, April 7, 2014
On a split vote, the CalSTRS board last week gave members in two unusual retirement accounts, which have a guaranteed minimum return, a $300 million credit from a surplus.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Apr. 3, 2014 – 11:00 pm
Last Modified: Thursday, Apr. 3, 2014 – 11:12 pm
CalSTRS said Thursday that its long-term funding shortfall has risen to $73.7 billion, a stark reminder of the financial issues facing the teachers’ pension fund.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, March 31, 2014
A class-action lawsuit contends that California judges are owed back pay and a pension increase because their salary, frozen for five years, did not keep pace with average increases in state worker pay as required by law.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Mar. 30, 2014 – 12:00 am
Last Modified: Sunday, Mar. 30, 2014 – 12:11 pm
One of the conceits of Capitol politicians – much on display during this election year – is that they finally balanced the state budget after years of deficits.
By Ed Mendel
March 24, 2014
The total spending increase needed to get CalSTRS, brought low by mismanagement, back to full funding may be the biggest-dollar scenarios ever presented to a California legislative committee.
By Chris Megerian
March 19, 2014, 2:17 p.m.
SACRAMENTO — The longer California’s leaders delay shoring up the cash-strapped teacher pension fund, the more money it will cost taxpayers in the long run, according to an analysis presented to lawmakers on Wednesday.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, March 17, 2014
The Vallejo city council last week voted to close a $5.2 million gap in the current budget, showing no alarm that in a five-year forecast the gap reopens, mainly driven by rising pension costs.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Mar. 13, 2014 – 3:47 pm
CalPERS and the bankrupt city of San Bernardino, headed for a possible legal showdown over pension contributions, said this week they’ve made headway in mediation talks.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, March 10, 2014
A superior court judge last week said he plans to uphold a key part of a new state law that curbs ‘spiking’ in county retirement systems, notorious for giving retirees pensions that are much higher than the salaries they earned on the job.
By Ryan Hagen, The Sun
Posted: 02/27/14, 8:12 PM PST |
San Bernardino’s largest creditor has permission from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to appeal a bankruptcy judge’s finding that the city is eligible for bankruptcy protection, raising the potential that the court could reverse the 2012 ruling that city officials then called vital for the city’s protection.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, February 24, 2014
Getting CalSTRS back to full funding, if rates are steadily increased over the next half dozen years, would take an annual increase reaching more than $5 billion a year by 2020 — about what the state general fund currently spends on UC and CSU combined.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
February 20, 2014
Moody’s Investors Services, a major bond rating house, warned Thursday that if bankrupt California cities don’t reduce their pension obligations, they risk returning to insolvency.
By Christina Villacorte, Los Angeles Daily News
Posted: 02/20/14, 8:13 PM PST | Updated: 9 hrs ago
Realizing they both have a lot to lose if public employee retirement costs continue spiraling out of control, Los Angeles County and its labor unions have agreed to what they called “sweeping reforms” that could save as much as $840 million over the next 30 years.
By Chris Megerian
February 20, 2014, 4:45 p.m.
WEST SACRAMENTO — When the glass-sheathed headquarters of the California teachers’ pension fund opened five years ago, it was supposed to help anchor developments along the blighted riverfront on the capital’s outskirts.
John Myers
KXTV 2:37 p.m. EST February 19, 2014
State legislators are getting a cold dose of reality about California’s ailing pension fund for teachers: find a way to boost contributions by almost $1 billion in 2015 and $5 billion a year soon thereafter… or watch the system collapse by the time current teachers reach retirement.
By Ed Mendel
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
A divided CalPERS board yesterday approved a faster rate hike for the state urged by Gov. Brown, but opposed by unions. A proposal to give struggling cities the option of more time to phase in the rate hike, seven years instead of five, was rejected.
Article by: FENIT NIRAPPIL , Associated Press
Updated: February 16, 2014 – 10:50 AM
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A rift between Gov. Jerry Brown and the board overseeing the nation’s largest public pension fund over rising liabilities tied to longer retiree life expectancies highlights a concern about how decisions are made at an agency with tremendous influence over state finances.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2014 – 10:28 pm
CalPERS and Gov. Jerry Brown agree the pension fund needs to significantly raise its contribution rates to keep up with ever-increasing life expectancies.
By Liset Marquez, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Posted: 02/11/14, 9:49 PM PST |
UPLAND >> Councilman Glenn Bozar knows the largest challenge facing city coffers will be its pension costs.
The 2013-2014 pension costs for the city were a little more than $6 million, and that number is only expected to climb.
By Daniel Borenstein, Staff Columnist
Posted: 02/07/2014 12:00:00 PM PST
Updated: 02/09/2014 08:10:25 AM PST
Kudos to Gov. Jerry Brown for demanding last week that CalPERS stop kicking pension debt further down the road. Too bad he hasn’t applied the same standard to the CalSTRS shortfall.
By Ed Mendel
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Gov. Brown yesterday urged CalPERS to speed up a $1.2 billion rate increase needed because workers are living longer. Assembly Speaker John Perez said last week he wants to speed up a $4.5 billion CalSTRS rate hike plan, acting this year not next year as the governor suggested.
The State Worker with Jon Ortiz
Chronicling civil-service life for California state workers
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014 – 12:00 am
A conservative Southern California group has launched a public pension database that includes retirees’ names, their annual pension payments, years of service, last employer and year of retirement.
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014 – 2:18 pm
Efforts to put a public pension measure on the November ballot dimmed Thursday when proponents said they would sue to challenge the language assigned their measure by California Attorney General Kamala Harris.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
January 29, 2014
With California facing a massive teacher pension shortfall, Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, D-Los Angeles, unveiled an effort Wednesday he hopes would fully fund the system.
Posted: Tuesday, January 28, 2014 8:41 pm | Updated: 8:35 am, Wed Jan 29, 2014.
By NORBERTO SANTANA JR.
What a difference a county line makes.
In San Diego, a majority Republican Board of Supervisors is handing out big salary raises to sheriff’s deputies. Meanwhile, Orange County’s all-Republican Board of Supervisors is not only holding the line on salaries but demanding that deputies pay significantly more toward their pensions.
By Steven Greenhut
Jan. 22, 2014
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown offered a buoyant take on California’s fiscal situation during his State of the State address in the Assembly chambers on Wednesday morning. Amid cheers from Democratic legislators, Brown touted California’s fiscal resurgence and chided commentators who had suggested that he skip this traditional exercise of pomp and circumstance.
Daniel Borenstein, staff columnist
Posted: 01/17/2014 01:43:25 PM PST
Updated: 01/17/2014 02:51:52 PM PST
State and local governments face more pension rate increases as the nation’s largest retirement fund continues to fix its flawed accounting, this time by acknowledging that future generations will live longer.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014 – 6:42 pm
CalSTRS said Thursday it earned a hefty 19.1 percent return on its investments in 2013 but repeated its plea for funding assistance from the Legislature.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Jan. 13, 2014 – 11:35 pm
CalPERS reported its best annual investment gains in a decade Monday, a development that could alter the political climate as another fight looms over pension reform.
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Jan. 13, 2014 – 9:10 pm
Last Modified: Monday, Jan. 13, 2014 – 11:38 pm
A controversial project to put hundreds of thousands of government retirees’ pension data on the Internet is virtually dead.
By Don Thompson, Associated Press
Posted: 01/12/2014 02:41:40 PM PST
Updated: 01/13/2014 06:09:14 AM PST
SACRAMENTO — In Gov. Jerry Brown’s promise to start paying off California’s massive liabilities, the largest single unfunded debt will not be seeing any additional pay-down in the coming fiscal year.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, January 13, 2014
A new state budget Gov. Brown proposed last week does not have a long-sought rate hike for CalSTRS, which is projected to run out of money in three decades. But the budget does call for talks with teachers, schools and others to work out a rate-hike plan.
By The Associated Press
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget proposal estimates that California owes about $355 billion in debts and unfunded liabilities for benefits promised to former and current state employees.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014 – 4:26 pm
Last Modified: Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014 – 10:17 pm
Two years ago, a campaign to overhaul public pensions in California was short-circuited when Attorney General Kamala Harris’ office issued a “title and summary” that was obviously slanted against the proposed ballot measure.
Monday, January 6, 2013 – 11:00 a.m.
Defined Benefit Pension adjustments and Social Security are set to slow in 2014.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, January 6, 2013
To cover the cost of retirees living longer, the CalPERS board next month is expected to approve the third rate hike in the last two years, phasing in the increase to soften the blow on state and local governments.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, December 30, 2013
A superior court ruling announced last week overturned key parts of a voter-approved San Jose pension reform: an attempt to cut employer costs for pensions earned by current workers in the future.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, December 23, 2013
A pension reform initiative proposed by San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and others got a mixed cost analysis last week from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, quickly trumpeted by opponents.
December 16, 2013; 05:47 PM
A Detroit judge’s ruling that public employee pensions can be modified just as other contracts can in bankruptcy sent shockwaves through San Bernardino.
To read column by Cassie MacDuff in The Press-Enterprise, click here.
Monday, December 16, 2013 – 09:00 a.m.
Pension costs continue to escalate in Southern California’s San Bernardino County.
The county’s adoption of a two-tier system fostered by a new January 1, 2013 law hasn’t stemmed the red, at least not yet.
Sunday, December 15, 2013 – 09:30 a.m.
San Bernardino County pension pressures aren’t getting any better.
But they aren’t worsening either!
The Associated Press
Published: Saturday, Dec. 14, 2013 – 8:37 pm
LOS ANGELES — California Treasurer Bill Lockyer is warning that the state teacher retirement system is rapidly running out of money.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Dec. 15, 2013 – 12:00 am
Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez summoned reporters to the Capitol last week to unveil what he called a “blueprint for a responsible budget.”
By Ryan Hagen, The Sun
Posted: 12/13/13, 12:04 PM PST |
LOS ANGELES >> U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee agreed Friday to let San Bernardino’s largest creditor appeal directly to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, opening another front in the battle between the city and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.
By Ryan Hagen, The Sun
Posted: 12/10/13, 8:11 PM PST |
RIVERSIDE >> Progress in mediation, progress on fixing an unexpectedly thorny problem with retirement records, progress on producing financial documentation — all were reported in an unusually conflict-free hearing among the city and its creditors Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
By Ryan Hagen, The Sun
Posted: 12/08/13, 5:38 PM PST |
SAN BERNARDINO >> A Detroit bankruptcy judge’s decision that pensions can be cut in a bankruptcy case might increase the possibility that the same could be done here.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, December 9, 2013
Following the city charter, a reluctant San Bernardino city council last week approved a police pay raise costing about $1 million, the second $1 million police salary increase since the city filed for bankruptcy last year.
December 03, 2013; 06:46 PM
A decision in Detroit’s bankruptcy case allowing pension benefits to be cut could have a major impact on San Bernardino’s attempts to get out of insolvency.
To read story by Imran Ghori in The Press-Enterprise, click here.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013 – 12:00 am
A legal showdown over pension obligations in municipal bankruptcies was averted in both Vallejo and Stockton, largely because officials in both chose not to make that fight.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013 – 9:13 am
It was a gold-plated promise: A career in government meant a safe and sound pension, no matter what.
By Alex Roarty
December 2, 2013
More than anything else, voters would be happiest if Congress and President Obama focused on creating jobs, according to the latest United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll. And they don’t care if lawmakers use Republican or Democratic ideas to do so.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, December 2, 2013
The rapidly growing cost of state worker retiree health care, a more generous benefit than received by active state workers, soon could be taking a bigger bite out of the state general fund than pensions.
By Ed Mendel
Mondaya, November 25, 2013
A federal judge last week set a hearing on approval of Stockton’s plan to exit bankruptcy for next March 5. But the hearing could turn into a multi-day trial if the city can’t cut a deal with the last holdout creditor, two Franklin bond funds.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013 – 12:00 am
When Jerry Brown departed from his first governorship in 1983, he left behind what later became known as a “structural deficit” in the state budget.
Posted: Monday, November 18, 2013 10:39 pm | Updated: 11:33 pm, Mon Nov 18, 2013.
By NICK GERDA
Following months of intense debates over how to best handle $5.7 billion in unfunded retirement obligations, leaders of Orange County’s local pension system have struck a deal to avoid a major surge in public agency payments that officials warned could bankrupt small cities.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Nov. 17, 2013 – 12:00 am
Public employee union propaganda notwithstanding, California has a serious public pension problem.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Nov. 17, 2013 – 4:53 pm
Last Modified: Monday, Nov. 18, 2013 – 9:01 am
CalPERS suffered a setback in its fight with the city of San Bernardino, which owes the pension fund more than $14 million after filing for bankruptcy.
Sunday, November 17, 2013 – 08:45 a.m.
A San Bernardino County employee union has won another legal battle with San Bernardino County.
This time it’s over forced retirement system contributions.