Pension Reform

Courts: Maybe public pensions can be cut

One theme CalWatchdog.com has covered over the years is that public pension programs are not sacrosanct. Although the general interpretation of the California Constitution is that the pensions must be paid — no matter what — if there’s no money,

New option could cut state retiree medical costs

John Seiler March 10, 2015

Fairly well known is California’s state and local pension problem, as much as $500 billion according to a 2011 Stanford University study. Less well known is the coming acute shortage in medical care for such retirees. Last December, Controller John

CalSTRS bailout cost: Pension tsunami laps at CA shores

Chris Reed February 24, 2015

Gov. Jerry Brown’s relative stinginess in seeking to hold the line on social services spending and in demanding an end to the practice of state education bonds paying for local districts’ construction dumbfounds some Democrats, who cite a healthier economy

Upbeat S&P report on CA also has CalSTRS warning

Chris Reed February 6, 2015

The recent Standard & Poor’s report upgrading California’s credit rating prompted headlines not just in the Golden State but in Washington and on Wall Street, where it was depicted as part of Gov. Jerry Brown’s narrative of the state’s continuing

Top lawyer for controller benefits from much-criticized state perk

Chris Reed January 14, 2015

The state government’s practice of letting workers defy official state policy and pile up unused vacation days and cash them in upon retirement has been criticized on and off for years. California government watchdogs and journalists have outlined the budget

Retirement will be painful for most

John Seiler January 2, 2015

In an excellent column in the U-T San Diego, Dan McSwain paints a grim retirement picture for almost everybody: For most Americans, it’s tempting to live in denial or outright fantasyland when it comes to paying for retirement. That’s because

Harsh impact of CalSTRS bailout begins to emerge

Chris Reed January 2, 2015

The deal struck in spring 2014 to bail out the underfunded California State Teachers’ Retirement System will lead school districts, the state and teachers to increase their annual contributions to CalSTRS from $5.9 billion in 2014 to at least $10.9

Pension reformer Chuck Reed will fight on

John Seiler January 1, 2015

San Jose is in the center of the world’s economic pulse, Silicon Valley. By all rights, its city treasury ought to be overflowing with digital wealth. Instead it has flirted with bankruptcy because of its burgeoning pension problem — a problem

Coal ban would boost tax cost of pensions

John Seiler December 19, 2014

California public pensions already have a big problem with adequate funding. The nonpartisan state Legislative Analyst pegs the pensions’ unfunded liabilities at $340 billion. It should be obvious what the investment strategy should be for the California Public Employees System,

CalPERS retirees soon to surpass workers

John Seiler December 5, 2014

Outgoing San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, the Democratic pension reformer, has a great joke. He says that, soon, his city will have a single employee; whose only job will be to mail pension checks to retirees. CalPERS is gettin’ there.