CPC Study Calculates Impact of New Credit Rating Criteria

New Study Exposes Underfunding in County Retirement Systems

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sacramento, California, May 7, 2014 Contact: press@calpolicycenter.org The California Policy Center has just published a study that compiles the total unfunded retirement liabilities for the twenty California Counties that have their own independent pension systems. These independent pension systems are frequently touted as financially sound, but when unfunded healthcare liabilities and outstanding balances...

By California Policy Center

Even Accounting for Environmental Costs, Oil and Gas Development To Have Net Positive Impact on California Economy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sacramento, California, April 1, 2014 Contact: press@calpolicycenter.org, 916-258-2396 Expansion Could Generate Nearly 300,000 New Jobs Per Year Through 2035, Between $1 and $4.5 Billion in Annual Tax Gains Today, the California Policy Center (CPC) released a new study from a University of Wyoming economist analyzing the realistic economic and environmental impacts that offshore oil drilling...

By California Policy Center

CPC Releases Sobering Study on Sonoma County's Pension Crisis

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sacramento, California, January 16, 2014 Contact: press@calpolicycenter.org The California Policy Center has just published an alarming study of Sonoma County’s pension crisis. The study was written by New Sonoma, a volunteer organization of financial experts and citizens concerned about the finances and governance of Sonoma County. The study describes how the County has incurred...

By California Policy Center

CPC Study Finds CalSTRS Contributions Grossly Inadequate

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sacramento, California, November 12, 2013 Contact: press@calpolicycenter.org Saddled with a massive debt on what is needed to meet its pension obligations the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) added more than $4.0 billion to that debt in 2012 because it chose to underfund its so-called “catch-up” payment. That is the conclusion reached...

By California Policy Center

CPC Study Finds Orange County Pension Plan Contributions Grossly Inadequate

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sacramento, California, September 13, 2013 Contact: press@calpolicycenter.org Saddled with a massive debt on what is needed to meet its pension obligations to County workers and other participants, the Orange County Employee Retirement System (OCERS) added more than $100 million to that debt in 2012 because it chose to underfund its so-called “catch-up”...

By California Policy Center

CPC Study Provides Tools to Estimate Pension Liabilities and Contributions Using Various Assumptions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sacramento, California, July 29, 2013 Contact: press@calpolicycenter.org With the recent announcement that Detroit has declared bankruptcy, many wonder how their city, county, school district, or other government organization is doing. To help keep elected officials accountable, the California Policy Center has released a simple spreadsheet and tutorial that estimates the unfunded liabilities and...

By California Policy Center

CPC Study Finds Orange County Again Confronting Bankruptcy Under New Accounting Rules

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sacramento, California, June 4, 2013 Contact: press@calpolicycenter.org A new study published by the California Policy Center analyzes the impact of GASB and Moody’s new – and final – rules governing financial reporting for pensions. These rules take effect next year. If Orange County had been using the just adopted GASB rulings governing...

By California Policy Center

CPC Study Estimates California's Total State and Local Government Debt Exceeds $1.0 Trillion

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sacramento, California, April 30, 2013 Contact: press@calpolicycenter.org A new study published by the California Policy Center estimates the total state and local government debt in California between $848 billion and $1.1 trillion. The study, authored by CPPC researchers Bill Fletcher and Ed Ring, is the result of extensive interviews with state employees...

By California Policy Center

CPC Study Finds Average Total Compensation For Irvine City Worker is $143,691 Per Year

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sacramento, California, April 9, 2013 Contact: press@calpolicycenter.org A new study published by the California Policy Center shows the average full-time employee with the City of Irvine made $143,691 in total compensation during 2012, according to records provided to the CPPC by the city’s own payroll department. The median total compensation, which means...

By California Policy Center

CPC Study Estimates Shows New GASB Rules Will Wipe Billions in Net Assets Off Government Balance Sheets

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sacramento, California, March 19, 2013 Contact: press@calpolicycenter.org In a new study published by the California Policy Center financial analyst John Dickerson examined Bill Gates’ assertion that only pension “accounting fraud allows governments to pretend their budgets are balanced”. Although Dickerson uses the term “fatally flawed accounting” he concludes Gates is essentially correct....

By California Policy Center

CPC Study Shows Unfunded Pension Liability Will Triple To $328 Billion in 2014, Using Moody's Proposed New Criteria

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sacramento, California, February 25, 2013 Contact: press@calpolicycenter.org California’s state and local government pension plan problems are going to get a lot bigger in 2014 under new criteria proposed to be implemented by credit reporting leader Moody’s. That’s the conclusion of a new study published by the California Policy Center, which concludes that...

By California Policy Center

CPC Study Documents How Rhode Island Implemented Pension Reform

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sacramento, California, January 28, 2013 Contact: press@calpolicycenter.org The California Policy Center has just published a new study that provides an in-depth chronology of Rhode Island’s pension reform efforts. Despite several incremental pension reforms passed by their state legislature starting in 2005, by 2010 Rhode Island’s state pension plan was only 48% funded,...

By California Policy Center

CPC Study Consolidates California's State and Local Government Spending

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sacramento, California, January 14, 2013 Contact: press@calpolicycenter.org When Sacramento politicians are dancing in the end zone about their “balanced budget,” how much does that tell us about whether government spending has been brought under control? Not much, according to a new study by the California Policy Center. Using the most recent financial...

By California Policy Center