Articles for category Politics
Posted Nov 05, 2014 by
Retirees
Politics
Retirement
Max Turchen, a longtime CSR board member and political activist, passed away Oct. 31 at the age of 94. “Max was a tireless champion for the rights of retirees and workers, and he will be sorely missed,” said CSR President Tim Behrens. “He was dedicated, hard working and most importantly – he was a good man.”
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Posted Nov 04, 2014 by
CalPERS
Retirees
General News
Politics
Retirement
CalPERS said Nov. 3 it has received a $249.3 million payment from Bank of America, the result of a settlement over toxic mortgage securities purchased by the pension fund during the housing bubble. With the Bank of America settlement, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System said it has now recovered more than $500 million from its investments in bad mortgage securities.
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Posted Oct 22, 2014 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Politics
Retirement
State Employees
Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday appointed Richard Gillihan to head the California Department of Human Resources, where he has served in an acting role since February. In his new position, Gillihan will also serve on the CalPERS Board of Administration.
Gillihan, 46, took over after Julie Chapman suddenly stepped down amid criticism that the department lacked leadership. His appointment broke a chain of CalHR chiefs who were labor insiders or bureaucrats who had come up through the department in favor of a technology expert and fiscal manager from the Department of Finance.
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Posted Mar 14, 2014 by
Retirees
General News
Politics
Retirement
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS -- Mayor Chuck Reed on Friday abandoned what was supposed to be his crowing achievement, saying he had admitted defeat in his bid to get a statewide pension reform measure on the November ballot.
The decision was expected after Reed struggled to attract the well-funded allies he needed to raise the millions of dollars to gather the roughly 800,000 signatures required for the initiative to reach the ballot. Meanwhile, organized union groups mounted a campaign to defeat it, and dozens of other California mayors lined up against it.
The San Jose mayor will be termed out of office at the end of this year and had spent months traveling the state and Washington D.C. in hopes of gathering support for his initiative, which was similar to a city pension measure he championed in 2012.
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Posted Oct 04, 2013 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Politics
Incumbents Joseph Jelincic and Michael Bilbrey Preliminary Winners of CalPERS Board Election
SACRAMENTO, CA – Joseph (JJ) Jelincic and Michael Bilbrey are the preliminary winners to fill two Member-At-Large seats on the Board of Administration for the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) according to unofficial results released today by the Pension Fund. Formal certification of the results must be made by California's Secretary of State.
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Posted Sep 20, 2013 by
Legislation
Politics
The following PDF is a list of Bills that CSR is supporting, opposing, or watching.
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Posted Aug 27, 2013 by
Legislation
Politics
The following PDF is a list of Bills that CSR is supporting, opposing, or watching.
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Posted Aug 16, 2013 by
CalPERS
Retirees
General News
Politics
California State Retirees President Tim Behrens wrote letters this week to legislative leaders urging them to hold special legislative hearings to investigate the many critical issues raised by a now-stalled CalPERS proposal to post a searchable database that provides the name and benefits of all of its 550,000 retirees.
“CSR – the largest state retiree organization in California – is deeply concerned about the potential threats a database searchable by member name poses to our 33,000 members,” Behrens said in letters to Sen. Jim Beall, the chair of the Senate Public Employees and Retirement Committee and to Assemblyman Rob Bonta, chair of the Assembly Public Employees and Social Security Committee. “Many of our members are of an advanced age which makes them vulnerable to scams and rip-offs that seek to separate them from their hard-earned pensions and other assets. Releasing their names will make them susceptible to harassing marketers, fraudulent activity and identity theft.”
A similar letter from Behrens was sent CalPERS President Rob Feckner.
Behrens said that California State Retirees recognizes that CalPERS member information has been considered public information for some time and that there is indeed some value in providing public access to pension data.
“Nevertheless, we do not believe that it is appropriate to release the name and pension data of every recipient in a searchable database that could be used to target individual retirees,” Behrens said.
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Posted May 14, 2013 by
Retirees
Politics
The following PDF is a list of Bills that CSR is supporting, opposing, or watching.
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Posted Jun 20, 2012 by
CalPERS
Retirees
National Economy
Politics
Retirement
June 20, 2012
(Reuters) - The message from voters about public pension plans is clear: They're ready to cut the retirement benefits of police, firefighters, teachers and other state and municipal workers.
The latest indicators include the failed recall of Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin - which started with his efforts to cut pensions - and referendums in San Jose and San Diego, where voters overwhelmingly backed pension reform measures.
A recent study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that 35 states have reduced pension benefits since the 2008 financial crisis, mostly for future employees. Eighteen states have reduced or eliminated cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) - and some states have even applied these changes retroactively to current retirees.
This week, the Pew Center on the States reported that states are continuing to lose ground in their efforts to cover long-term retiree obligations. In fiscal year 2010, the gap between states' assets and their obligations for retirement benefits was $1.38 trillion, up nearly 9 percent from fiscal 2009. Of that figure, $757 billion was for pensions, and $627 billion was for retiree health care.
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