Politics, Government & Business in California's Inland Empire
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
01/20/2015 8:58 PM
A bankruptcy judge Tuesday dismissed an effort to keep Stockton mired in bankruptcy while a creditor challenges a decision that lets the city pay its CalPERS pension bills in full.
Jan. 17, 2015
Updated 10:44 p.m.
By TERI SFORZA
Things might be looking a bit better, but let’s not let it go to our heads.
Anaheim is still staring down a public pension hole more than half a billion dollars deep.
Tuesday, January 13, 2015 – 10:30 a.m.
In San Bernardino County, California, administrators are putting the writing on the proverbial wall.
By Joe Nelson, The Sun
Posted: 01/10/15, 2:41 PM PST | Updated: 1 day ago
San Bernardino County’s contribution to its employee pensions will increase by $35.6 million in the next year, attributed to reduced rates on investment returns and increased life expectancies for pensioners, according to the county’s chief financial officer.
And those increased costs will shadow the county for at least the next 15 years.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
01/08/2015 8:44 PM
Government pensions, once thought to be ironclad in California, are under attack in court once again.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, January 5, 2015
In what has been a futile annual ritual, CalPERS President Rob Feckner sent the governor and Legislature a letter last March urging advance funding of a closed judges pension plan, a change estimated to save $753 million to $2.3 billion in the long run.
Sunday, January 4, 2015 – 11:30 a.m.
This Tuesday, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors will vote to approve another increase in its annual pension contributions.
By Tim Reid
Monday, Dec 29, 2014 – 8:38pm EST
(Reuters) – A group of judges is suing California’s public pension system Calpers and the state of California over claims their pension contributions have been almost doubled unlawfully.
By Ed Mendel
December 22, 2014
The debt or “unfunded liability” state Controller John Chiang reported last week for state worker retiree health care, $72 billion, is larger than the unfunded liability for state worker pensions reported by CalPERS in April, $50 billion.
By Ed Mendel
December 15, 2014
CalPERS is encouraging government employers to make extra payments to reduce their pension debt or “unfunded liability” if budgets allow, saying millions can be saved in the long run.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
12/14/2014 12:01 AM
California’s perpetual political debate over public employee pensions usually focuses on the benefits themselves – whether they are fair compensation for those doing the public’s work or, conversely, too generous.
By Evan Halper
December 11, 2014
More than 1 million Americans who were promised secure, predictable retirement income probably will see part of their monthly benefit checks evaporate as Congress moves to stabilize some private pension systems veering toward insolvency.
By Billy House
December 8, 2014
As lawmakers pressed Monday to finalize the legislative language of a must-pass omnibus spending bill, labor unions and retiree groups were mobilizing to defeat what they are characterizing as a lame-duck sneak attack on the pensions of some already-retired workers.
By Michael A. Fletcher
December 3, 2014 at 9:38 PM
Congress could soon allow the benefits of current retirees to be cut as part of an agreement to address the fiscal distress confronting some of the nation’s 1,400 multi-employer pension plans.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, December 1, 2014
What happens when a bankrupt city does not cut its largest debt, pensions, is getting its first test in Vallejo, which has higher average pensions and higher CalPERS rates than the two larger cities still in bankruptcy, Stockton and San Bernardino.
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
11/26/2014 8:16 PM
Don’t be surprised next year if Gov. Jerry Brown re-enters the political boxing ring for another around with CalPERS over what kinds of pay can count toward a government retiree’s pension calculations. And don’t be surprised if he loses again.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, November 24, 2014
In a few years CalPERS retirees are expected to outnumber active workers, a national trend among public pension funds that makes them more vulnerable to big employer rate increases.
Bankrupt San Bernardino rolls over, but pension problems persist
By Steven Greenhut
Nov. 21, 2014
SACRAMENTO — The recent announcement that the bankrupt city of San Bernardino has agreed to fully pay its pension debt to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System has public-employee unions cheering. But pension reformers, though demoralized, believe the CalPERS victory is a hollow one.
By Ed Mendel
November 20, 2014
A former Stockton city manager, Bob Deis, regarded as the architect of the Stockton plan to exit bankruptcy, is part of a consulting team hired by bankrupt San Bernardino this week to develop an exit plan.
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 – 09:00 a.m.
San Bernardino County’s pension fund isn’t in horrible shape. But it isn’t in great shape either!
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
11/18/2014 10:15 PM
State Controller John Chiang performed an admirable public service by publishing a detailed report on the finances of California’s public employee pension systems.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
11/18/2014 11:08 PM
Public employees and retirees in California absorbed a potentially devastating court ruling a little more than a month ago: Pension benefits can be legally slashed if their employers go bankrupt.
The cities in a position to cut pensions, however, have shown no interest in doing so.
By Marc Lifsher
November 13, 2014
A decade ago, many of California’s public pension plans had plenty of money to pay for workers’ retirements.
Ed Mendel
Monday, November 10, 2014
A new look at how CalSTRS members changed during the last 15 years shows the average teacher working fewer years, retiring at an older age and collecting a pension that grew faster than pay or inflation.
By Marc Lifsher
November 2, 2014
Stockton employees and retirees avoided pension cuts when a federal judge last week approved the San Joaquin Valley city’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
11/01/2014 5:00 PM
State Controller John Chiang dropped a political bomb the other day, although he was so quiet about it, one could say it was a stealth bomb.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
10/30/2014 9:20 PM
Government pensions in California remain untouchable, at least for now, after a bankruptcy judge approved Stockton’s plan to repay its creditors Thursday without reducing the city’s pension obligations.
By Marc Lifsher and Melody Petersen
October 29, 2014
In a closely watched case, a federal judge on Thursday is expected to decide whether the bankrupt city of Stockton can continue to pay employees generous pensions that soon could consume one-fifth of municipal revenues.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, October 27, 2014
The CalSTRS board was told this month that financial experts are forecasting investment earnings of 7 percent a year or less during the next decade, below the 7.5 percent assumed by the pension fund.
By Melody Petersen and Marc Lifsher
October 23, 2014
Directing traffic is part of a police officer’s job, and in the city of Fountain Valley, keeping cars moving comes with a $145 monthly bonus — and a bigger pension.
October 23, 2014
The board of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System voted to add to a recent pension reform law 99 bonuses that can boost workers’ current paychecks and also their future pensions. Here are some of these retirement-enhancing bonuses:
By TERI SFORZA
STAFF COLUMNIST
tsforza@ocregister.com
Published: Oct. 19, 2014 Updated: Oct. 20, 2014 10:37 a.m.
image0-Watchdog: Thousands join the ‘$100K club’ for pensions
Back in 2005, some 1,841 retirees pulled down more than $100,000 a year in pension checks from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.
By 2009, this so-called “$100K club” had more than tripled, to 6,133 members.
By Ed Mendel
October 20, 2014
A new comparison with four other large public pension funds found that CalPERS, while scoring average on service, had high pension administration costs — $213 per member a year, nearly twice the average of $108 per member.
By Ed Mendel
October 6, 2014
A federal judge ruled last week that Stockton’s CalPERS pensions can be cut in bankruptcy. But Stockton does not want to cut pensions, and the lone holdout creditor says it can be paid without cutting pensions.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Oct. 2, 2014 – 10:20 pm
It should have surprised no one that federal Bankruptcy Court Judge Christopher Klein declared that public employees’ pensions are not sacrosanct when their employers declare bankruptcy.
Michael Hiltzik
October 2, 2014
The investment house Franklin Templeton’s effort to knock down the city of Stockton’s proposal to emerge from bankruptcy portrays the case as one in which Franklin is defending itself against three big, faceless adversaries.
AP California News
Oct 2, 9:28 AM EDT
By DON THOMPSON
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — U.S. bankruptcy law allows the California city of Stockton to cut pension benefits because it can treat its obligations to the public retirement fund like other debts, a federal judge said in a ruling that could help clarify who gets paid first by financially strapped cities around the nation – pension funds or creditors.
By Ryan Hagen, Press-Telegram
Posted: 10/01/14, 11:38 PM PDT |
A decision Wednesday by the judge at Stockton’s bankruptcy trial that allows bankrupt cities to treat the California Public Employees’ Retirement system like other debtors might open the door for other insolvent cities that could want to cut back on expensive pension obligations — including San Bernardino.
By Marc Lifsher
September 9, 2014
Taxpayers and local governments are on the hook to pay nearly $800 million stemming from “legal” pension spiking over the next two decades, the state controller said Tuesday.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, September 8, 2014
CalSTRS was bracing to report the nation’s biggest pension debt under new government accounting rules that take effect this fiscal year — $167 billion, an amount so huge some thought it might increase the cost of issuing local school bonds.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, September 2, 2014
A small but affluent Orange County city, with a current staff of only a half dozen employees, would have to pay about $3.6 million to leave CalPERS, the giant state pension system estimated two years ago.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Aug. 21, 2014 – 10:01 pm
Last Modified: Thursday, Aug. 21, 2014 – 11:13 pm
Two years ago, Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature agreed to a mild reform of public employee pensions aimed, they said, at reducing manipulation of the system and reducing long-term costs.
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2014 – 11:10 am
A divided CalPERS board approved a regulation Wednesday that will allow nearly 100 different types of supplemental pay to count toward pension calculations for state and local government employees.
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2014 – 12:00 am
More than a year after Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law he said would tamp down pension spiking, the state’s biggest public pension fund is on the verge of adopting rules critics say would undermine its intent.
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.