Posted Aug 28, 2015 by
Legislation
The following PDF is a list of bills that CSR is supporting, opposing or watching.
August 28, 2015 Legislative Report
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Posted Aug 21, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Retirement
Along with taxation and immigration, one political issue that never seems to go away is the cost of public employees, especially their pensions.
Public retirement plans are consistently blamed for local and state budget woes. Any time a community runs into fiscal trouble, its workers are among the first to be demonized, and often bear the brunt of the remedies. After all, pension obligations are typically among the largest liabilities any government entity must bear, so why not hack away?
In California, pension overhaul proposals have become a perennial feature of state and local ballot campaigns. Failed proposals were aimed at the statewide ballot twice in the last four years, and the proponents of the last effort, in 2014, have started the ball rolling for a new measure.
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Posted Aug 12, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Politics
Retirement
Proponents of a California ballot initiative requiring pension changes to go through a public vote on Tuesday rejected Attorney General Kamala Harris’ official description of the measure as an attempt “to try to mislead the public.”
For every ballot measure, the attorney general’s office issues a short name and description to appear on the petitions that backers use to get signatures. Because it is often the entry point for voters to understand what’s in a ballot initiative, the wording carries high stakes.
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Posted Jul 27, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Politics
Retirement
By Dave Low, chair of Californians for Retirement Security
In their never-ending effort to force-feed warmed-over political ideas to a skeptical public, the pension attackers are back, using new poll-tested language and focus-grouped talking points to undermine retirement security for millions of working families.
Under the Orwellian moniker of the “Voter Empowerment Act,” former San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, former San Diego Councilman Carl DeMaio and their anti-pension cohorts are proposing nothing short of gutting the public employee pension system – one of the last bastions of middle-class economic security.
They are falsely selling their proposed ballot measure as a potential cut in pensions for new employees. In reality, it could cut or eliminate pensions earned by current employees for future work.
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Posted Jul 22, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirees
State Economy
Retirement
State Employees
In an email to journalists and election officials, David Crane arrives at a false conclusion with his claim that CalPERS unfunded actuarial liability (UAL) will continue to grow unless the system achieves a return of at least 9.7%, not the 7.5% CalPERS currently assumes.
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Posted Jul 20, 2015 by
Legislation
The following PDF is a list of bills that CSR is supporting, opposing or watching.
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Posted Jul 16, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirees
State Economy
Retirement
The California Public Employees' Retirement System, projected to have negative cash flow for at least the next 15 years, is looking to recast investment priorities to slash the complexity and volatility embedded in its $301-billion portfolio, officials said on Tuesday.
Fund officials, recognizing that the wave of retiring baby boomers means it will pay out more in benefits than it takes in from contributions and investment income - a gap that could reach $10 billion by 2030 - are expecting to pivot more toward assets that deliver reliable income than in the past.
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Posted Jul 01, 2015 by
Retirees
Legislation
The following PDF is a list of Bills that CSR is supporting, opposing or watching.
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Posted Jun 17, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirees
National Economy
State Economy
Retirement
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) today released its annual CalPERS for California Report, detailing the broad ancillary benefits the System’s investments generated in California for the 2013-14 Fiscal Year. Additionally, CalPERS released an updated version of the California Initiative Report, highlighting a program that encourages investments in companies located in traditionally underserved California markets.
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Posted Jun 16, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Health Care
Retirement
CalPERS -- The California Public Employees' Retirement System's (CalPERS) Pension and Health Benefits Committee (PHBC) recommended June 16 the Pension Fund's Board of Administration adopt health care premium rate and plan changes for 2016. The recommendations include adopting a Medicare plan alternative - UnitedHealthcare's (UHC) Medicare Advantage Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plan - and eliminating Medicare Advantage plans currently offered by Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield of California, Health Net and Sharp. Kaiser Permanente will continue to offer its Medicare Advantage plan and the CalPERS PPO Medicare Supplement plans will remain in place.
CalPERS' decision to adopt UHC's PPO could save a minimum of $24 million if at least 40,000 members move into this new Medicare plan option.
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Posted Jun 16, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Health Care
Retirement
Sacramento Bee -- Thousands of calls to California’s Medi-Cal complaint lines don’t get through, and thousands more that manage to ring the call center go unanswered, according to a new state audit.
For the year that ended in January 2015, the phone system to the Medi-Cal Ombudsman Office rejected up to 45,000 calls in a month, State Auditor Elaine Howle said in her report to lawmakers.
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Posted Jun 15, 2015 by
Legislation
The following PDF is a list of Bills that CSR is supporting, opposing or watching.
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Posted Jun 15, 2015 by
General News
Health Care
CNNMoney (New York) - CVS Health (CVS) and Target (TGT)announced Monday that they've made a deal for CVS to acquire Target's pharmacy and clinic businesses for $1.9 billion
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Posted Jun 09, 2015 by
Politics
Retirement
By Brian Rice, President of the Sacramento Area Firefighters
When they announced their ballot measure last week, critics of public employee retirement benefits engaged in hyperbole and pointing to potholes as evidence that millions of elderly Californians should be stripped of their retirement savings. Cities, they claim, are spending so much on retired police officers, firefighters and other employees that services – such as filling potholes or maintaining parks – are getting “crowded out.”
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Posted Jun 09, 2015 by
Politics
Retirement
SACRAMENTO BEE - Former San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and Carl DeMaio, a former San Diego city councilman and current radio talk show co-host, have a new ballot proposal that would constitutionally require that voters approve increases in compensation and retirement benefits for public employees.
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Posted Jun 04, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Politics
Retirement
"Inadequate financial preparation for retirement is a growing national concern. Defined benefit plans are the most cost-efficient way to save for retirement and should remain an important tool in retirement planning. All employees – whether in the public or private sectors – should have effective means to pursue retirement security," CalPERS said in a statement issued June 4.
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Posted Jun 04, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirement
Fuzzy Math Continues To Drive Public Pension Hysteria
By Association of Deputy District Attorneys Board of Directors
Public employee pension systems are an integral part of recruiting and retaining high-performing public employees. They align the interests of the employer and the employee. A pension allows attorneys to work for the county District Attorney despite the prospect of a higher income in private practice. Once hired, DDAs have an incentive to stay during the most productive years of their career; and at the end of that career, DDAs can leave the office rather than cling to the job because it is their only source of income.
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Posted Jun 04, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Politics
Retirement
For the third time in four years, advocates for altering public pensions have a plan they want to put to a statewide vote.
But this time the proposal by pension-change advocates Chuck Reed and Carl DeMaio has a new twist: Pensions and other retirement benefits themselves would automatically become a matter of ballot-box politics by requiring voter approval any time government officials sought to upgrade benefits.
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Posted Jun 01, 2015 by
CSEA
Retirees
Longtime CSR Board Member Jerry Evans, who was the District B director and the board’s former executive vice president and vice president, passed away suddenly on May 30.
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Posted May 26, 2015 by
Legislation
The following PDF is a list of Bills that CSR is supporting, opposing, or watching.
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