A photo illustration of pension protection. (Photo: Billion Photos, via Shutterstock)In a decision that could serve as a national model, Gov. Jerry Brown is considering legislation to allow millions of private-sector employees to steadily build their pensions without interruption — even when they change jobs.
A shopper totes his plastic bag across an intersection. (Photo: Connel, via Shutterstock)California’s statewide law banning plastic bags may have been suspended pending the voters’ decision in the November referendum, but cities and counties are moving ahead with their own local bans. The local laws would be exempt from the proposed statewide repeal. A “no” vote means the ban will be thrown out, a “yes” vote means the law will be left in place.
CalPERS' headquarters in Sacramento. (Photo: Coolcaesar/en.wikipedia)Calpensions: After the CalPERS staff gave the board a correction last week for providing misinformation about private equity fees, the board member who has been grilling staff on the issue walked out of a private staff meeting because he was not allowed to record it.
The CalPERS' governing board during a meeting several years ago at the pension fund's headquarters. (Photo: CalPERS board)After a loss of $100 billion in the recent recession, the CalPERS funding level dropped from 100 percent in 2007 to 61 percent in 2009. It has not recovered, despite a major bull market in which the S&P 500 index of large stocks tripled. “Even with the dramatic returns we have seen over the past six years, because the demographics of plans in general have changed and plans are now by and large cash-flow negative, it’s been very challenging to dig out of that hole,” Andrew Junkin, a Wilshire consultant, told the CalPERS board last week.
Health care delivery in California is moving toward an integrated model that brings together physicians, nurses and other health professionals, each playing a specialized role as a member of a team. As professionals that have served in multiple roles on that team, and done the training for each, we believe we are in a unique position to comment on Senate Bills 323 and 622, which would alter the roles of nurse practitioners and optometrists, respectively.
Gov. Brown and aides head to a Capitol briefing on his latest state budget. (Photo: AP/Rich Pedroncelli)Jerry Brown kept the purse strings tight on the University of California, but proposed an $8 billion boost for public education and wants to spend $1 billion of cap-and-trade auction money on high-speed rail. transit and related projects. In the first budget of his last term in office, the Democratic governor offered a $164 billion spending plan — $113 billion of it in the General Fund, the state’s coffer of sales, income and business taxes — for the 2015-16 fiscal year that begins July 1.
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. Legislators were told last week an additional $181.7 billion would be needed for full funding in 20 years. If payments are spread out to ease the budget bite, the additional amount needed to reach full funding in 60 years is a staggering $618 billion.
In the months since the FBI raided the offices of Senator Ron Calderon, the most interesting thing that’s happened in the State Capitol is what hasn’t happened in the State Capitol. Unlike broader efforts for political reform that accompanied previous corruption scandals, there has been barely a peep from California politicians of either party about the need to clean up a system that has become consumed by non-stop fundraising.