Articles for category CalPERS
Posted Feb 07, 2014 by
CalPERS
Retirees
General News
State Employees
Proponents of a pension-change initiative want a judge to edit key language used to describe their measure, contending that it was written to bias voters against it.
The lawsuit filed this week by San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and four other local government officials behind the proposal accuses Attorney General Kamala Harris of writing a title and summary that “uses false and misleading words and phrases which argue for the measure’s defeat, is argumentative, and creates prejudice against the measure, rather than merely informing voters of its chief purposes and points ...”
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Posted Jan 13, 2014 by
CalPERS
Retirees
General News
After California State Retirees (CSR) took the lead in calling for legislative hearings regarding pension privacy rights, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) announced Jan. 6 that it will rescind its plan to post on its website the names and pension amounts of 550,000 CalPERS retirees.
In July, CalPERS agreed to postpone the launching of its searchable pension data base when CSR and other retiree organizations argued that public information should only be released upon individual request under the Public Information Act. Posting the pension information of all CalPERS members on a data base would make it easier for solicitors and identity thieves to obtain information, the groups argued.
The Jan. 6 statement released by CalPERS Spokeswoman Rita Gallardo said: "After many discussions with our stakeholders and partners, we have come to better understand their concerns about posting this public information in a secure database on the CalPERS website. Next month CalPERS staff will report to the [CalPERS Board of Administration] that we no longer believe the intended benefits of posting the database on our website outweigh the risks and concerns to our members and that we should not move forward with our previous plans.
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Posted Dec 19, 2013 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Health Care
Ordinarily, when increases in employer and employee pension contributions are discussed, we would be the first to question the need for such increases. But the current reality shows it is prudent to adjust contributions in light of the updated actuarial assumptions. Members are living longer. Hence the long term stability of the fund outweighs knee jerk objections in our estimation.
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Posted Nov 14, 2013 by
CalPERS
Retirees
State Economy
Retirement
San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed has revised the public employee pension ballot measure, tweaking its language to fend off opponents’ criticisms that the proposed constitutional amendment circumvents collective bargaining and guarantees proponents a payday in state-subsidized legal fees to defend the measure if the state attorney general declined to fight lawsuits that would certainly follow the its approval.
“In the last two or three weeks we’ve talked to a lot of people,” Reed said this morning in a telephone interview, including the legislative analyst staff and the attorney general’s office. “Some parts of our measure weren’t clear. So we’re trying to make it clear what our intentions are.”
Union opponents seized on the revision -- and a switch in the lineup of the measure’s proponents -- as a sign that the proposal is in trouble. Among other things, Reed’s proposal would change California’s constitution to allow public employee pensions to be lowered prospectively for current workers. A body of case law appears to make that illegal without another form of compensation to offset that loss.
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Posted Nov 04, 2013 by
CalPERS
CSEA
Retirees
Retirement
State Employees
For more than half a century, Yolanda Solari dedicated much of her life to fighting for the rights of state workers, state retirees and California citizens in general.
She passed away Oct. 30 at the age of 90.
She held several elected offices within CSEA, which currently has about 140,000 members in four affiliates, including California State Retirees.
She was first elected president of CSEA in 1990 – the third woman to hold the position, and the first to serve three two-year terms.
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Posted Oct 15, 2013 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Legislation
State Employees
Governor signs CSR-endorsed bills
Gov. Brown signed five bills in October that are beneficial to senior citizens and supported by California State Retirees (CSR).
Of the 896 bills the Legislature sent the governor this year before adjourning in September, the governor signed 800 and vetoed 96, according to Ted Toppin, legislative advocate for CSR. The approved bills go into effect Jan. 1, 2014.
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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 25, 2013 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Retirement
It has come to our attention that approximately 25,000 CalPERS members do not have a mailing address on file at CalPERS, and therefore did not receive a ballot for the CalPERS 2013 Board Member-At-Large-Election.
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Posted Aug 28, 2013 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Retirement
The public is invited to learn more about the candidates running for Seat A and Seat B on the CalPERS Board of Administration by attending a candidate forum from 3 to 5 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 5, in the Robert C. Carlson Auditorium at CalPERS Headquarters in Sacramento.
Ballots were mailed Aug. 30 to the home addresses of CalPERS members eligible to vote in the election for the two open member-at-large positions. The voting period runs through Sept. 27 – the deadline for returning ballots to CalPERS.
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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 Jul 11, 2013 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Retirement
California State Retirees (CSR) – the largest state retiree organization in California – announced today that it is seeking legislation to limit the amount of pension information currently available through CalPERS under the Public Records Act.
“We understand that some public information must be released by law, but we do not support a pension data system like what CalPERS had proposed because it would have revealed much more than just how much a retiree’s pension is,” said California State Retirees President Tim Behrens. “Most of the 33,000 members in our organization are elderly and many are vulnerable. Releasing even just their name can make them targets for identity theft and harassing marketers and scammers.”
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Posted Jul 05, 2013 by
CalPERS
Learn about your CalPERS benefits and the retirement planning services available to you at a free Retirement Planning Fair. Meet representatives from CalPERS Regional Offices, program areas and partner organizations. Five classroom-style breakout sessions will provide information on retirement and health benefits, service credit and more. Use this one-stop shopping guide to access all of your planning needs.
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Posted Jun 18, 2013 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Health Care
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s (CalPERS) Pension and Health Benefits Committee (PHBC) today recommended the Board of Administration approve a 2014 health care package that would raise overall premiums next year by an average of 3 percent for the Pension Fund’s nearly 1.3 million health program members, the lowest average increase since 1998. The rate is lower than the 9.6 percent increase in 2013. If the full Board approves the new premium rates, they will take effect January 1, 2014.
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Posted May 07, 2013 by
CalPERS
Health Care
Jon Ortiz
Sacramento Bee
jortiz@sacbee.com
CalPERS is moving to strike from government health care rolls tens of thousands of people it believes are mistakenly or fraudulently receiving benefits.
The fund, which is the second-largest health care purchaser in the nation after the federal government, figured last year that removing an estimated 29,000 wrongly listed children, spouses and domestic partners of government employees would save approximately $40 million annually.
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Posted Dec 31, 2012 by
CalPERS
CalPERS retirement benefits are paid at the end of the month.
The chart below shows you the pay days for 2013. Since checks are issued by the State Controller's Office, they determine the mailing dates. If you have direct deposit, your financial institution has until the close of the direct deposit date to place the funds in your account. Please contact your financial institution to find out what time it places your funds in your account.
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Posted Oct 18, 2012 by
CalPERS
Retirees
State Economy
Retirement
State Employees
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) Board of Administration Oct. 17 approved an 85 percent premium increase for early purchasers of its Long-Term Care (LTC) Insurance Program policies. The increase, to be spread over two years, is being implemented to help stabilize the program’s underlying Long-Term Care Fund and will take effect July 2015.
Members who opt to cover the increase in a single year will pay only 79 percent. Policyholders affected by the increase purchased two types of policies between 1995 and 2004: policies with lifetime benefits with inflation protection, and policies with lifetime benefits without inflation protection (California Partnership policies will be excluded).
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Posted Oct 04, 2012 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Health Care
Retirement
It's an old-age safety net offered to California public employees: insurance to cover the exorbitant cost of staying in nursing homes, assisted-living facilities and the like.
Now most of the 150,000 or so Californians who buy long-term care insurance from CalPERS are facing what could be a big rate hike.
CalPERS is considering imposing a 75 percent increase in premiums on the vast majority of its long-term care policyholders. They would pay hundreds of dollars a year more – thousands, in some cases – as the California Public Employees' Retirement System tries to fix financial holes in the program.
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Posted Oct 04, 2012 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Health Care
State Economy
CalPERS retirees should do nothing with the letter they received in September asking them whether they want to “opt out” of Medicare Part D, according to CalPERS officials.
CalPERS is converting from the Medicare Part D Retiree Drug Subsidy Program (RDS) to a Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) for Medicare-eligible members. Blue Shield and CVS Caremark are administering the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) for CalPERS effective Jan. 1, 2013, and they are responsible for sending the letters.
These plans are Employer Group Waiver Plans (EGWP), governed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The centers require that health plans offer members a choice to opt out of the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan. This opt-out provision was not a requirement under the Medicare Part D Retiree Drug Subsidy Program.
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Posted Aug 27, 2012 by
CalPERS
Retirees
General News
State Economy
Retirement
Lawmakers charged with overhauling California's state and local public pension law are considering a plan to cap defined benefit pensions that would not include a second 401(k)-style component common in so-called "hybrid" retirement plans. "There will be a cap," Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, during a hallway press conference this afternoon with Capitol reporters.
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Posted Aug 08, 2012 by
CalPERS
Retirees
State Economy
Retirement
The Sacramento Bee
By Rob Feckner
If there is one thing I have learned in my time on the CalPERS board it's this – a little perspective goes a long way. This is especially true when it comes to the news coverage of CalPERS' recently announced investment returns for last fiscal year and the criticism of pensions in municipal bankruptcies. Let me offer a little perspective.
Last fiscal year, CalPERS earned a 1 percent return on our investments. The news has caused some people, including the media, to claim that the sky is falling and to demand that CalPERS "get real" and lower our investment assumptions. A few people have even personally blamed our investment staff.
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