Posts Tagged: management

News

San Bernardino eyes cuts of police retirees’ pensions

San Bernardino police officers, members of the SWAT team. (Photo: Juno Kughler Carlson, omnitrans.org) omnitrans.org

San Bernardino’s plan to exit bankruptcy, possibly next year, cuts the pensions of 23 retired police officers who receive an unusual supplement to their regular CalPERS pension. The supplement boosts pensions to the same amount now common among police and firefighters, a standard set by the Highway Patrol in a CalPERS-sponsored bill, SB 400 in 1999.

News

Forest health includes fighting fire with fire

The Lime Complex fire in Northern California's Trinity Mountains. (Photo: Paul Higley)

Analysis: California forests are threatened by a maelstrom of environmental drivers of change, which have intensified across four years of drought. Horrific recent events should inspire reform of not only wildfire management, but also of our overall forest-health stewardship and governance. We need a new vision for managing our wildlands with policies based on science and acting in the interest of the greatest public good.

News

Target: CalPERS’ private equity profits

The CalPERS' governing board during a meeting several years ago at the pension fund's headquarters. (Photo: CalPERS board)

Calpensions: After the board was told last April that CalPERS could not track the incentive payments, known as “carried interest,” a wave of media criticism grew with stories in the New York Times late last month and Fortune magazine last week. A pension fraud investigator, Edward Siedle of Benchmark Financial Services, launched an Internet fund-raising campaign on Kickstarter to raise $750,000 for a “forensic investigation” of the California Public Employees Retirement System.

News

From the classroom: Looking at the offices of governor, president

At first glance, comparing the roles of the President and the California Governor with regard to the lawmaking processes of their respective governments appears to be an esoteric exercise for ivory tower academics. Our students often ask, “Why is it important that I be able to compare the respective powers and prerogatives of the President and the Governor? Is it not enough for me to know what the President can do in the federal system, and what the Governor can do in the California system?”

News

From deep in the Valley: Perea and the ‘New Dems’

A highway sign in California points to the heart of the Valley. (Photo: Filip Bjorkman)

It should come as no surprise that a representative from the Central Valley’s largest city heads California’s New Democratic lawmakers. And with Perea at the helm, inland Democrats were vocal in staking out their turf in the year’s prominent battles.

Opinion

Changes urged in the franchise system

OPINION: There are more than 80,000 franchised enterprises in California, employing nearly a million people. Increasingly franchise owners are seeing our rights slip away as lopsided franchise agreements protect the interests of multi-national franchisors rather than small business owners.

News

Missing pieces in Brown’s pension reform plan

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.

Opinion

Local authority crucial to managing groundwater

OPINION: Rather than focusing our attention on creating uber districts with special powers or buttressing the powers of cities and counties so they can manage groundwater, it would be better to focus our attention on some of the causes for our present failures and direct our efforts to giving local stakeholders the tools to complete the task.

Opinion

State, squid industry getting together

OPINION: This was the fourth straight year that the squid fishery closed early; the season typically extends all year, from April 1 to March 31. The difference this year – unlike the past – was that the Department collaborated with the squid industry on day-to-day management, including the closure date.

News

Ron Loveridge: A local official with statewide presence

Ron Loveridge hasn’t been around forever, but sometimes it seems that way.

Loveridge is retiring after decades in public service that includes an unprecedented five terms as mayor of Riverside. But for a guy who built his career hundreds of miles from Sacramento, Loveridge has a remarkable profile in state government that extends far beyond

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