Politics, Government and Business in Southern California's Inland Empire
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Feb. 3, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Gov. Jerry Brown laid out a detailed plan to alter California’s state and local public retirement systems on Thursday – and immediately drew fire from his core labor constituency.
Monday, January 30, 2012
By Ed Mendel
The nation’s two largest public pension funds last week reported slim annual investment earnings, CalPERS 1.1 percent and CalSTRS 2.3 percent, as experts continue to say hitting their long-term earnings target, 7.75 percent, will be difficult.
While CalPERS reported weak earnings in 2011, a prominent private-sector investment manager, Robert Arnott of Research Affiliates, told the board last week he thinks the most they can expect from stocks and bonds next decade is 4 percent.
It falls short of the 7.75% average that actuaries say CalPERS needs to meet obligations. Calendar-year results are just indicators — the public pension fund’s fiscal year ends in June.
By Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times
January 24, 2012
Reporting from Sacramento— The nation’s largest public pension fund, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, posted a 1.1% return on its investment portfolio in 2011, Chief Investment Officer Joseph Dear told his board.
The 2011 performance was well below the estimated average annual return of 7.75% that the fund’s actuaries say is needed to meet current and future obligations to its members.
By Ed Mendel
Monday,January 16, 2012
Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign is putting the spotlight on private equity, which public pension funds such as CalPERS and CalSTRS helped flourish and now need for better-than-average earnings.
Romney became wealthy while leading Bain Capital, a private equity firm he said created “tens of thousands of jobs” by buying and then selling troubled or stagnant companies after making them efficient, better managed and able to grow and prosper.
BY DUANE W. GANG
STAFF WRITER
dgang@pe.com
Published: 31 December 2011 05:04 PM
Changes in public employee retirement were a hot-button issue in 2011 and will likely continue this year as a dominant policy debate at the state and local levels.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, December 19, 2011
Over the last 10 years CalPERS investment earnings are below the median among institutional investors. Are money managers being paid for poor performance?
In a feisty farewell last week, an outgoing CalPERS board member, Lou Moret, called attention to the below-median earnings as Wilshire consultants delivered a quarterly earnings report.
The State Worker
Chronicling civil-service life for California state workers
December 13, 2011
California’s three largest pension systems have promised $500 billion beyond their current ability to make those payments to retirees, according to a study released to today by Stanford University Professor and former Democratic Assemblyman Joe Nation and a student researcher.
The Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research issued the report, documenting what it claims is the state’s deepening pension crisis. California Common Sense, an organization dedicated to engaging the public in “data-driven discourse” is also behind the report.
By Ed Mendel
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
The rate hike next July for most of the 2,043 local public pension plans in the giant CalPERS system will be lower than expected — an increase of 1 percent of pay or less for four-fifths of them.
The rates reflect the second year of a radical “smoothing” plan that spreads rate increases from huge investment losses over a three-year period.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 6B
CalPERS reported a $695 million profit from one of its investments Tuesday.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System said it earned the money from an investment fund that closed down after a 10-year run that ended when it sold its last asset.
November 30, 2011 | 4:57 pm
Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to overhaul public pensions in California may face legal hurdles and create some new costs, according to officials with the state’s two largest public retirement systems.
Monday, November 20, 2011 – 11:00 a.m.
One things for certain.
The sluggish stock market and record low interest rates has been and will continue to be a bad recipe for California government pension funds.
By Ed Mendel
Monday,November 20, 2011
The nation’s two largest public pension funds will urge corporate boards to disclose political campaign contributions, a response to a court decision lifting the lid on some donations that do not have to be reported.
By Anthony York, Los Angeles Times
November 9, 2011
Reporting from Sacramento— Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to alter public pension benefits is courageous but legally dicey, and key pieces of it have not been fully developed, according to a new report from California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.
November 2nd, 2011, 9:38 pm
Posted by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
With the public pension wars heading to a ballot box near you, it is worth noting that the number of California retirees earning more than $100,000 a year has skyrocketed 99 percent – in just two years.
By JUDY LIN
Associated Press
Published: Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011 – 8:39 am
Last Modified: Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011 – 5:45 pm
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — San Francisco’s public pension system took a beating during the recession, which has left it carrying a hefty unfunded liability for its 26,000 current and 28,000 retired employees. The city’s pension obligation is growing by $100 million a year, leaving less funding for police and fire protection, park maintenance and health services for the needy.
By Anthony York and Michael J. Mishak, Los Angeles Times
October 28, 2011
Reporting from Sacramento — Gov. Jerry Brown proposed a sweeping overhaul of California pensions that would require public employees to pay more for their retirement and cut benefits for those hired in the future, setting the stage for a fierce battle with fellow Democrats and some of his main political supporters: unions representing government workers.
Dan Walters
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Oct. 28, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
A few years ago, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s chief actuary gave what he assumed was a private briefing and described the huge system’s liabilities as “unsustainable.”
Thursday, October 20, 2011
By Ed Mendel
In a settlement of a wrongful firing, a suburban San Diego water district agreed six years later to put its former general counsel back on the payroll for one year at $222,000, with a leave of absence that left him free to take another job.
Saturday, October 15, 2011 – 04:00 p.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, October 16, 2011 – 09:20 p.m.
San Bernardino County’s pension fund has killed no-bid contracts for two politically-connected consultants.
Monday, October 17, 2011
By Ed Mendel
SAN FRANCISCO — The nation’s two largest public pension systems last week asked for a delay in new accounting rules that will make pension debt more visible, a change intended to aid decision-makers that some think may alarm the public.
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published: Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
California government employees, fearing that lawmakers may soon shut down a controversial program that boosts their retirement payouts, have flooded the state’s largest pension system with inquiries and requests to purchase the benefit.
October 14, 2011 | 7:43 pm
The nation’s largest public pension fund said it would vote against the reelection of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his sons, James and Lachlan, to News Corp.’s board of directors.
Money & Company
Tracking the market and economic trends that shape your finances.
October 7, 2011 | 4:24 pm
Top administrators and investment officers at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the country’s biggest government pension plan, were awarded $4.5 million in bonuses, averaging 41% of their base salaries for the year that ended June 30.
Monday, October 3, 2011
By Ed Mendel
As state and local governments in California face soaring public pension costs, unions insist that cost-cutting changes must be bargained, not imposed by legislation.
But there is one major exception: schools.
Monday, September 26, 2011
By Ed Mendel
In pension-troubled Rhode Island the state auditor general is recommending the end of something that makes California unusual among states: allowing labor unions to bargain for pension and retiree health benefits.
10:00 PM PDT on Thursday, September 22, 2011
BY ALICIA ROBINSON
STAFF WRITER
arobinson@pe.com
Riverside officials this week took formal steps to create a lower pension tier for most future employees.
Monday, September 19, 2011
By Ed Mendel
SANTA ROSA — The Sonoma County retirement board voted last week to release retiree names and their pension amounts, becoming the latest loser in seven separate superior court decisions since 2009 upheld by three different appeals courts.
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Sep. 15, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
It could have been worse. A lot worse.
Next week, a state watchdog committee will take up 16 cases involving current and former employees and board members of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System who failed to report gifts they had received from business associates.
By Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times
September 13, 2011
Reporting from Sacramento— Board members and officers of the long-troubled California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the nation’s largest pension fund, could be fined thousands of dollars for not properly reporting gifts received from investment firms.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Sep. 13, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Tuesday, Sep. 13, 2011 – 12:07 am
In a move that could fuel economic growth, CalPERS earmarked $800 million Monday for investments in California roads, bridges, power transmission lines and other forms of infrastructure.
Rizzo
Wendy Leung, Staff Writer
Created: 09/05/2011 07:03:08 AM PDT
The former Bell city manager, who was once employed in Rancho Cucamonga, will receive drastically reduced pension benefits after the California Public Employees Retirement System slashed the payouts of top-paid officials.
Monday, August 29, 2011
By Ed Mendel
A bill for a public pension reform advocated by Gov. Brown, and a commission appointed by former Gov. Schwarzenegger, has a labor sponsor, no formal opposition and therefore smooth sailing in the Legislature, right?
Not exactly.
August 24th, 2011, 2:23 pm
Posted by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
A ballot measure that would hike the retirement age of public employees to 65 (except for public safety officers, who could retire at 58) could save billions of dollars every year in the long run, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.
Monday, August 22, 2011
By Ed Mendel
In a sign of the uncertain times, the CalPERS board last week approved a sharp increase in the cost of terminating pension plans, a rare action said to be taken each year by only one or two of the more than 2,000 retirement plans in the giant system.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Aug. 18, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 6B
The recent wreck on Wall Street cost CalPERS billions of dollars, and the pension fund believes there’s more instability coming.
Money & Company
Tracking the market and economic trends that shape your finances.
August 17, 2011 | 3:58 pm
This month’s plunging stock prices cost the state’s biggest public pension fund $9 billion, but the fallout from the “market riot” could have been much worse, said Joseph Dear, chief investment officer of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.
Money & Company
Tracking the market and economic trends that shape your finances.
August 9, 2011 | 12:49 pm
After posting its best annual performance in 14 years, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System is giving back a sizable portion of the 20.7% investment return it reported for the fiscal year that ended June 30. Joe Dear 2
The value of the country’s largest public pension fund was $220 billion at market’s close on Monday, down 7.6% or about $18 billion, CalPERS said Tuesday.
Daily Report: K–12
August 4, 2011 | Joshua Emerson Smith
The California Teachers Association and California State Teachers’ Retirement System are opposing a bill that would limit pension “spiking,” the practice of boosting salaries right before retirement to increase pension payouts.
The State Worker
Chronicling civil-service life for California state workers
August 1, 2011
A proposed initiative that would require the state’s public sector pension systems to maintain at least 85 percent of their investments in California-based businesses would weaken returns and fail to spur significant economic activity in the state, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office.
Monday, August 1, 2011
By Ed Mendel
New public pension accounting rules will not change how rates paid by state and local governments are set. But how the public and lawmakers will react to a new way of reporting pension costs is less clear.
The State Worker
Chronicling civil-service life for California state workers
July 28, 2011
The number of state workers joining the CalPERS retirement roll was almost 40 percent lower in July 2011 compared to July 2010.
By James Nash – Jul 25, 2011 9:01 PM PT
Overseers of 10 public pension funds with combined assets topping $1 trillion joined a call for a deal on raising the U.S. debt ceiling, warning that a failure by leaders in Washington would have “devastating” consequences.
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Jul. 25, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Thousands of California public employees have put down big money on what amounts to a bet with the government that they will live long enough to recoup their investment – and then some.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Jul. 22, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 6B
CalPERS threw its own pie at Rupert Murdoch this week.
As the hacking scandal intensified at Murdoch’s News Corp., the California pension fund took aim at the company’s two-tier stock structure.
By Michael B. Marois – Jul 18, 2011 11:18 AM PT
The nation’s two largest public pension systems reported returns topping 20 percent for the year ended June 30, their best in more than a decade as the California funds profited from stocks and private equity.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Jul. 12, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 6B
California’s two public pension funds are starting to make some money in real estate after several years of hard knocks.
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Jul. 12, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
From California to Florida, many public employees are paying more for their pensions now than a year ago as strapped state and local governments cast about for savings.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Jul. 7, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 6B
For the second time in three weeks, CalPERS has hired a company that’s been accused of defrauding the pension fund.
Monday, June 27, 2011
By Ed Mendel
While not complying with an apparently flawed state law, CalPERS is opposing a similar federal bill calling for a report showing how pension debt could soar if long-term investment earnings are well below average.
Published: Saturday, Jun. 18, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 6B
A lawsuit that says CalPERS was duped on a huge Southern California land deal has been dropped.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System lost $922 million on its investment in LandSource Communities Development.
Alfred Villalobos
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Jun. 16, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 6B
Say this for Alfred Villalobos, the man accused of bribing CalPERS officials: He doesn’t skimp.
The Lake Tahoe businessman has amassed a wine collection valued at a staggering $85,000. Now he’s trying to sell it.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Wednesday, Jun. 15, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 6B
Last Modified: Wednesday, Jun. 15, 2011 – 6:47 am
CalPERS is about to raise health care premiums for its members an average of 4.1 percent, about half as much as last year.
By Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times
June 11, 2011
Reporting from Sacramento— The California Public Employees’ Retirement System has begun automatically deleting any emails older than 60 days, raising concerns among watchdog groups that the giant pension fund could be destroying evidence of misdeeds.
Walters
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Sunday, Jun. 5, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
The pensions received by California’s public employees have erupted into a very hot political issue, so hot that it has become one of the key issues in the state budget stalemate.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Jun. 3, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 6B
Another big CalPERS land investment has gone sour, this one in Arizona.
The State Worker
Chronicling civil-service life for California state workers
June 1, 2011
The Senate today passed without objection a bill aimed at blocking public employees from spiking their pensions and restricting double-dipping after retirement.
Money & Company
Tracking the market and economic trends that shape your finances.
May 31, 2011 | 2:30 pm
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the country’s largest public pension fund, has named an investment executive to run its $49-billion private equity investment portfolio.
By Phillip Reese
preese@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Jun. 1, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
The $100,000 pension club is growing fast.
Almost 9,000 retirees in the California Public Employees’ Retirement System receive at least $100,000 in annual benefits, more than quadruple the number getting that much during 2005, according to a Bee review of CalPERS data.
City finance director warns council of possible revenue loss
Liset Marquez, Staff Writer
Created: 05/30/2011 12:11:11 AM PDT
ONTARIO – City officials have been warned – by the steward of its finances – to take further actions in the future to reduce costs in case of declining revenues.
The State Worker
Chronicling civil-service life for California state workers
May 27, 2011
A bill that would freeze pay for the highest-paid state workers stalled today in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, effectively killing it.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
By Ed Mendel
Gov. Brown is proposing that the state give CalPERS $1.5 million to identify and study alternatives for a “hybrid” retirement plan, a cost-cutting combination of pensions and 401(k)-style individual investment plans.
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, May. 24, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Last Modified: Tuesday, May. 24, 2011 – 7:00 am
Three CalPERS board members and dozens of current and former fund executives are under investigation by the state’s political watchdog agency over allegations that they failed to accurately report gifts in keeping with state law.
May 19, 2011
By MICHAEL CORKERY
The nation’s biggest pension fund is on target to notch one of its strongest annual returns in the past 20 years, performance that is helping the fund regain its health and its confidence.
Business
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, May. 19, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 6B
It was a decisive moment for CalPERS in its campaign to get past a damaging bribery scandal.
The pension fund in March abruptly cut off contract renewal talks with its drug-benefits provider after revealing that the company once hired a man accused of bribing CalPERS officials.
Money & Company
Tracking the market and economic trends that shape your finances.
May 17, 2011 | 2:14 pm
The state of California is getting a slight break on its pension bill for the upcoming spending year.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, May. 16, 2011 – 5:06 pm
CalPERS said today it’s selling all its stock in companies doing business in Iran and Sudan.
May 16, 2011
By Ed Mendel
Democrats are moving public pension reform legislation aimed at ending well-publicized abuses and defending the current system, while Republican proposals for major cost-cutting changes likely to reduce benefits are stalled or rejected.
The State Worker
Chronicling civil-service life for California state workers
May 12, 2011
CalPERS says a report issued last week that questions the sustainability of defined-benefit public pensions is “flawed” and that various fixes it considers are either inequitable or illegal.
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, May. 6, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Battle lines sharpened Thursday over California’s public pensions with the release of a new report that concludes pay and benefit packages for public workers are better than those for their counterparts in the private sector.
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Thursday, May. 5, 2011 – 8:24 am | Page 3A
Here comes the pension push-back.
After more than three years feeling like a collective political punching bag, public employee unions have mounted a multifaceted campaign to defend their pensions and fend off “attacks” on their members.
In an analysis of two concepts, the nonprofit California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility warns that the state’s five biggest pension funds are in precarious financial conditions.
By Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times
May 5, 2011
Reporting from Sacramento— Pension benefits for hundreds of thousands of state workers would be reduced 25% to 40% under two proposals that have become the focal points for what could become a costly and bruising ballot fight over retirement funding.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
By Ed Mendel
A new study done for a pension reform group says retirement benefits for California public employees are often two or three times greater than benefits in the private sector, where pensions and retiree health coverage are dwindling.
The State Worker
Chronicling civil-service life for California state workers
May 2, 2011
The rate at which state workers drew their first pension checks in the first four months of this year slowed dramatically compared with the same period in 2010, according to CalPERS most recent data.
Published: Monday, Apr. 25, 2011 – 12:00 am
Last Modified: Monday, Apr. 25, 2011 – 6:27 am
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System has released a report that highlights its investments in the state, which accounted for about $17 billion of the system’s $200.5 billion in assets last year. “CalPERS for California” notes that the largest slice of Golden State investment, approximately $6.1 billion, was in public companies. Of those, 644 have California headquarters that accounted for an estimated 700,000 workers statewide. The report is a snapshot of CalPERS investments in the state as of June 30, 2010.
To read entire story, click here.
Leaders didn’t think CalPERS increases would be a problem
James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Posted: 04/23/2011 08:03:04 PM PDT
Unions wanted them. Pension managers said they were affordable. Elected officials approved them.
But improved pension benefits granted to public employees over the past 12 years are now costing local governments dearly. And for that, officials acknowledge, there’s plenty of blame to go around.
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