Posted Jul 12, 2011 by
CalPERS
Retirees
General News
State Employees
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.
Now a sweeping Republican proposal in the California Senate, among other changes, would hike how much all current and future state and local government workers pay toward their pensions.
[Read More...]
Posted Jun 30, 2011 by
Retirees
General News
State Economy
State Employees
California's legislature passed a Democrat-crafted plan late Tuesday to close a budget gap that initially stood at $27.6 billion—the first time in decades that state lawmakers approved a budget without Republican support in a move that could have far-reaching consequences for California.
The $86 billion spending plan for the fiscal year starting Friday was endorsed Monday by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown after he earlier vetoed another budget passed by the legislature. The new budget was approved by just over half of each house of the legislature, the first such budget since California voters last year reversed a decades-old law requiring budget approval by two-thirds of lawmakers. The reversal meant the budget could pass with support from only Democrats.
[Read More...]
Posted Jun 28, 2011 by
General News
State Economy
Politics
State Employees
Abandoning negotiations with Republican lawmakers, Gov. Jerry Brown struck a deal with Democrats for a budget that assumes billions of dollars in fresh revenue — but could lead to major service cuts if the money doesn't materialize.
[Read More...]
Posted Jun 28, 2011 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Politics
Retirement
Michael Bilbrey and Richard Ross – the two candidates in the CalPERS runoff election for a vacant seat on the CalPERS Board of Administration – will face off at an upcoming candidates’ forum.
[Read More...]
Posted Jun 27, 2011 by
General News
Legislation
State Economy
Politics
Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders announced today that they have reached an agreement on a new majority-vote budget plan.
"We've had some tough discussions, but I can tell you that the Democrats in both the Senate and the Assembly have now joined with the administration and myself and we have a very good plan going forward with the budget," Brown said at a press conference in his office this afternoon.
[Read More...]
Posted Jun 27, 2011 by
Legislation
State Economy
Politics
State Employees
With California's new fiscal year starting Friday and no compromise with the GOP on a budget in sight, Gov. Jerry Brown's chief spokesman called Sacramento Republicans "basically moronic" for failing to strike [Read More...]
Posted Jun 23, 2011 by
CalPERS
Retirees
State Economy
Retirement
State Employees
New York Times June 21, 2011
Then Jim Righeimer, a conservative activist and real estate developer, jumped into the race last year.
The city was on the road to insolvency, he warned, because public employee unions had pressured politicians into handing over generous salaries and pensions. The police chief received $298,000 a year in total compensation, Mr. Righeimer noted. The deputy fire chief had retired with a pension of more than $182,000 a year.
[Read More...]
Posted Jun 16, 2011 by
Retirees
General News
State Economy
Politics
Sacramento Bee June 16, 2011
Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed his own party's budget today, less than 24 hours after Democratic lawmakers sent him a majority-vote plan balanced with risky solutions.
The Democratic governor said during his campaign and throughout this year he would not sign a budget filled with "gimmicks," though he suggested earlier this week he had relaxed that stance.
[Read More...]
Posted Jun 16, 2011 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Health Care
Retirement
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s Board of Administration on June 15 adopted a 2012 health care rate package with an overall annual premium increase of 4.1 percent for more than 1.3 million CalPERS members.
[Read More...]
Posted Jun 16, 2011 by
CalPERS
Retirees
General News
Retirement
All CalPERS retirees are invited to participate in CalPERS Ambassador Program at the El Dorado Park Senior Center in Long Beach Sept. 27.
The volunteer Ambassadors will receive education, training and communications so they can better understand, and in turn better communicate, the facts about their retirement benefits. Ambassadors will come together for an initial training and then receive timely facts and outreach ideas via e-mail.
[Read More...]
Posted Jun 08, 2011 by
General News
State Economy
Politics
State Employees
Republican lawmakers are prepared to let voters decide whether to close California's stubborn budget deficit with higher taxes in exchange for major changes in state spending, public pensions and regulatory policies.
[Read More...]
Posted May 19, 2011 by
CalPERS
Retirees
National Economy
State Economy
Wall Street Journal, May 19, 2011
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.
But state residents still are being stung by the California Public Employees' Retirement System's funding gap, showing the deep hole into which many pension funds have dug themselves.
[Read More...]
Posted May 17, 2011 by
CalPERS
State Economy
The state's annual contribution to CalPERS will fall slightly in the upcoming fiscal year, the pension fund announced today.
CalPERS said the state's contribution in the new fiscal year will hit $3.51 billion. That compares with $3.68 billion in the current year. [Read More...]
Posted May 17, 2011 by
General News
State Economy
Politics
State revenue has rocketed to a projected $6.6 billion beyond expectations, a windfall that Gov. Jerry Brown wants to use to stabilize education spending and help repair California's battered finances.
In the revised budget plan that Brown released Monday, schools would receive about $3 billion that would otherwise have been deferred, aiding districts' ability to plan the academic year. The proposal also devotes some of the unanticipated money to business tax credits and to delaying a portion of the tax increases the governor had sought earlier this year. [Read More...]
Posted May 16, 2011 by
Retirees
General News
State Economy
Politics
More than a thousand teachers, state workers and others fanned out across the south lawn of the Capitol on Friday to pressure Republican lawmakers to extend expiring taxes to avoid further budget cuts.
The event capped a week of demonstrations by the California Teachers Assn., whose members lobbied lawmakers, staged rallies and, on two occasions, got arrested for refusing to leave the Capitol after the building closed. On Friday, David Sanchez, the union’s president, said that his arrest -– and those of 25 others –- brought attention to the cause of public education.
[Read More...]
Posted May 06, 2011 by
CalPERS
Politics
Retirement
State Employees
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.
Commissioned by pension overhaul advocates poised to seek changes, the report drew immediate fire from public employee unions, which have muscled up to fight the emerging pension wars.
[Read More...]
Posted May 03, 2011 by
General News
State Economy
State Employees
With Wisconsin convulsed by unrest over a bill to curb public employee unions, a similar measure is steaming toward passage in Ohio, a bigger labor stronghold with a vital role as a political battleground. [Read More...]
Posted Apr 19, 2011 by
General News
State Economy
Politics
Retirement
In a victory for all public retirees, the California Supreme Court on April 13 refused to hear the County of Orange’s appeal seeking to reverse retroactive pension increases given to retired Orange County sheriffs’ deputies.
The refusal to hear the case means the decision made earlier this year by the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles stands. That court ruled the 2001 labor agreement retroactively giving Orange County deputies a 3 percent at age 50 formula for retirement is valid and does not violate the provisions of the California Constitution. [Read More...]
Posted Apr 15, 2011 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Retirement
All working and retired members of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and their guests are invited to a question-and-answer session with three CalPERS officials in Palm Desert Friday, May 6. [Read More...]
Posted Apr 13, 2011 by
CalPERS
General News
State Economy
Retirement
Republicans and pension busters have been whacking CalPERS like a pinata for the past year. But here's something they don't like to talk about: CalPERS is a huge job creator in California. And weakening it would be a major drag on the state's economy.
CalPERS has invested more than $17 billion in California-based companies, properties and projects, helping to generate nearly one million jobs throughout the State, the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) Investment Committee was told on Monday.
[Read More...]