Will the California Supreme Court Reform the “California Rule?” – Latest Update
Will the California Supreme Court Reform the “California Rule?” – Latest Update
Most pension experts believe that without additional reform, pension payments are destined to put an unsustainable burden on California’s state and local governments. Even if pension fund investments meet their performance objectives over the next several years, California’s major pension funds have already announced that payments required from participating agencies are going to roughly double...
By Edward Ring
Gas-tax repeal gets closer to vote as train spotlights state’s misplaced priorities
Gas-tax repeal gets closer to vote as train spotlights state’s misplaced priorities
Sacramento Almost everyone agrees that California’s infrastructure is shockingly decrepit, yet public anger over a 12-cent-a-gallon gas tax to address that problem has not subsided. Although an effort by GOP gubernatorial candidate Travis Allen to repeal the tax never got traction, a separate effort led by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, former San Diego Councilman...
By Steven Greenhut
Is your city using taxpayer dollars to campaign for higher taxes?
Is your city using taxpayer dollars to campaign for higher taxes?
STEAL MY ORDINANCE: Newport’s O’Neill For two years beginning in 2014, Stanton, California, residents were pounded by half a million dollars in advertising calling for a hike in the city’s sales tax. They surrendered to the wall-to-wall messaging, voting once for the tax hike and then against a repeal effort. In a painful irony, the...
By Will Swaim
Resources for California’s Pension Reformers
Resources for California’s Pension Reformers
Stampede: a mass movement of people at a common impulse. – Merriam Webster dictionary The pension reform stampede is about to finally overrun California’s political status-quo for three reasons. (1) Pension debt is out of control. While official estimates are slightly lower, most reasonable estimates put California’s total unfunded liabilities for state and local pensions at...
By Edward Ring
The Underrecognized, Undervalued, Underpaid, Unfunded Pension Liabilities
The Underrecognized, Undervalued, Underpaid, Unfunded Pension Liabilities
To paraphrase America's 42nd president, when it comes to public sector pensions - their financial health and the policies that govern them - it's the unfunded liability, stupid. The misunderstood, obfuscated, unaccountable, underrecognized, undervalued, underpaid, unfunded pension liabilities.
By Edward Ring
Innovative Incarceration: Lower Costs, Safer Citizens
Innovative Incarceration: Lower Costs, Safer Citizens
The average annual cost to house a prisoner in California is $71,000, and according to the California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office, the cost has risen 45% since just 2011. And as costs have soared, California’s policymakers have resorted to creative ways to release inmates from California’s overcrowded prisons. But what if that Californian creativity could be...
By Edward Ring
Mr. Chips needs to pack heat
Mr. Chips needs to pack heat
While finger-pointing continues over the Florida school shooting, it’s time to arm our teachers. Understandably, much has been written about the awful school shooting in Parkland, Florida, where 17 young people were slaughtered at the hands of a sick and evil human being. The tragedy was particularly vexing as there were so many warning signs...
By Larry Sand
How to Restore Financial Sustainability to Public Pensions
How to Restore Financial Sustainability to Public Pensions
Last month the League of California Cities released a “Retirement System Sustainability Study and Findings.” The findings were not surprising. “Key Findings” were (1) City pension costs will dramatically increase to unsustainable levels, (2) Rising pension costs will require cities to nearly double the percentage of their general fund dollars they pay to CalPERS, and...
By Edward Ring
Grad rates have become the education establishment’s Potemkin village
Grad rates have become the education establishment’s Potemkin village
Too many schools are failing, and parents need a way for their kids to escape from them. A couple of months ago, the education establishment told us that “U.S. Graduation Rate Hits New All-Time High, With Gains in All Student Groups.” But in the real world this is nothing more than a façade – a...
By Larry Sand
How to Assess Impact of a Market Correction on Pension Payments
How to Assess Impact of a Market Correction on Pension Payments
On January 28, 2018, the Dow Jones stock index closed at a record high of 28,610. Nine days later, on February 6, the Dow index hit an intraday low of 24,198, a drop of over 15 percent. Since then the Dow index has recovered somewhat, along with other stock indexes and the underlying stocks around...
By Edward Ring
CalPERS pounds the table in response to reports showing a looming state pension crisis
CalPERS pounds the table in response to reports showing a looming state pension crisis
Sacramento There’s an old saying about attorneys. “If the facts are on your side, pound the facts into the table. If the law is on your side, pound the law into the table. If neither the facts nor the law are on your side, pound the table.” That can also apply to the California Public...
By Steven Greenhut
California Government Pension Contributions Required to Double by 2024 – Best Case
California Government Pension Contributions Required to Double by 2024 – Best Case
The employer contribution to California’s state and local government pension systems will double, from $31 billion in 2018 to $59 billion by 2024. This estimate is based on aggregating official projections of cost increases issued by CalPERS to their participating agencies, and extrapolating those projections show the overall impact on all of California’s 87 government...
By Edward Ring
Janus case: Friends of the court offer weak defense of mandatory union dues
Janus case: Friends of the court offer weak defense of mandatory union dues
Sacramento The nation’s public-sector unions have all but thrown in the towel on the notion of mandatory dues, yet various legal theorists and organizations have submitted briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court defending the right of unions to arm-twist dues from those who don’t agree with the union’s agenda. After reading their arguments, it’s clear...
By Steven Greenhut
Did CalPERS Use Accounting “Gimmicks” to Enable Financially Unsustainable Pensions?
Did CalPERS Use Accounting “Gimmicks” to Enable Financially Unsustainable Pensions?
Gimmick – a concealed, usually devious aspect or feature of something, as a plan or deal. – Dictionary.com In the past week, from Millbrae’s city hall to the inner sanctum of the CalPERS leviathan in Sacramento, defenders of pensions have been active. In particular, they have criticized the recent analysis, published by the California Policy Center, “How...
By Edward Ring