Pensions | California Policy Center

Transparent California Releases 2013 Payroll and Pension Data

Today, the California Policy Center (CPC) released 2013 payroll and pension data (the most recent data available) on TransparentCalifornia.com, the largest ever online database of California state and local government employee pensions, salaries, and benefits. The data shows that public compensation in California is growing more out of control, threatening the solvency of the state...

By Mark Bucher

Comparing compensation information on Transparent California and State Controller’s site

Two is usually better than one, and that’s certainly true when it comes to databases of government employee compensation. In the case of California, there are two main searchable statewide databases. Those sites are TransparentCalifornia.com, which provides information on government payrolls and pensions, and the State Controller’s Office (SCO) Government Compensation website. The main advantage...

By Robert Fellner

Examining the CalSTRS Shareholder Bailout

“CalSTRS has a $70-plus-billion unfunded liability – even with assumed investment earnings that Brown deems ‘highly unlikely’ – and says it needs about $5 billion more a year to regain solvency.” – Dan Walters column, “Brown budget reflects state’s massive debt,” May 25, 2014, Sacramento Bee Those “investment earnings” that Walters quotes Brown as finding...

By Edward Ring

Comparing Pension Reform in Pacific Grove vs. Bakersfield

Editor’s note: Several times this year we have published in-depth investigative reports written by John Moore, a citizen activist living in Pacific Grove. This recent letter from Moore was addressed to the local newspapers serving Pacific Grove. Moore is unhappy with the coverage these newspapers have given the city of Pacific Grove’s pension crisis. The...

By John Moore

The Fragility of "Can't Fail" Thinking

CalPERS, the large California public pension plan, has filed an amicus brief in the case of Detroit’s bankruptcy. Calpers does not like the Detroit pension plans being treated like unsecured creditors in a bankruptcy proceeding, and cites the constitutional (state constitutional, that is) protections for pensions. Thing is, there’s law, and there’s reality. But let’s...

By Mary Pat Campbell

San Jose Court's Flawed Decision Strikes Down Heart of Measure B Pension Reform

In November of 2013, the San Jose voters approved a Charter Amendment that made measured changes and reductions in the cost of the City pension plan. The changes did in fact require greater contributions by the employees and reduced the value of the existing plan to current employees. The employee unions and others sued the...

By John Moore

Public Pension Solvency Requires Asset Bubbles

The title of this post expresses what is probably the greatest example of a monstrous hypocrisy – that public employee unions, and the pension funds they control, are supposedly helping the American economy, and protecting the American people from “the bankers.” Overpriced “bubble” assets caused by banks offering low interest rates hurt ordinary working people...

By Edward Ring

Why Frequently Cited Average Pension Numbers Are Misleadingly Low

Public pension systems in California, most notably CalPERS and CalSTRS, are quick to cite their average pension amount as evidence that their pension benefits are reasonable. In addition to the pension plans themselves, many defenders of public pension plans will cite these averages themselves when attempting to counter claims that pension benefits have become excessive...

By Robert Fellner

Pacific Grove Reformer Alleges Pension Increases Passed Without Due Process

Editor’s Note: Pacific Grove may be one of the smallest cities in California, but it is on the front lines of the battle for pension reform. Facing financially devastating annual billings from CalPERS, citizen activists are uncovering evidence that the pension benefit enhancements passed by Pacific Grove’s city council may not have complied with the...

By John Moore

San Jose's Public Safety Pensions – Reduce Now or Slash Later

“Once people get the facts, they do not support slashing people’s pensions.” – Dave Low, chairman, Californians for Retirement Security (Washington Post, February 25, 2014) Really? Making sure “people get the facts” is difficult when most “facts” the public sees are promulgated to the media by pension fund PR departments eager to preserve the torrent...

By Edward Ring

Three Ways California Governments Try To Avoid Transparency

Few politicians or government officials publicly oppose transparency in government. After all, transparency isn’t just about information; it’s a tangible acknowledgment that government officials work for citizens, not the other way around. Still, there’s a big difference between mouthing support for transparency and actually fulfilling public records requests as required by California’s Public Records Act. TransparentCalifornia.com,...

By Robert Fellner

All Government Employees and Retirees are Not Equal

Overlooked in the Pacific Grove government employee pension reform discussions is that employees and retirees are real people. In Rhode Island, many retirees who had been promised a modest $25,000-per-year retirement had that sum reduced to $10,000 per year. Their plight is tragic. The discussions in Pacific Grove lump employees and retirees together. The clerk...

By John Moore

Los Angeles Careens Towards Bankruptcy – Retirement Benefits Are Biggest Driver

The Los Angeles 2020 Commission studied among other things the sorry state of LA’s pension mess. In a case of can-kicking extraordinaire, its recommendation was to appoint another commission to further study the problem. Please consider Report Finds Los Angeles at Risk of Decline A scathing verdict on Los Angeles’s civic health that was delivered in a one-two...

By Mike Shedlock

Government Unions Attack Free-Market Nonprofits via Pension Funds

“The AFT will be looking more closely at those who are supporting the dismantling of defined benefit plans at the state and municipal level.” – Ranking Asset Managers, A Retirement Security Report on Money Managers for Pension Fund Trustees, March 5, 2014 As reported in a Washington Examiner editorial on April 4th, the American Federation...

By Edward Ring