Author: uclafaculty

| |

CalPERS Issues Report on Vested Rights of California Pension Recipients and Covered Current mployees

Byuclafaculty

Although the CalPERS report refers to its participants, most of the legal discussion is generally applicable to any public pension plan in California. Basically, the report indicates that both earned benefits AND benefit formulas cannot be altered, except in extraordinary circumstances, in ways that disadvantage covered employee. The report is available below from Issu and/or Scribd: Open publication – Free publishing – More calpers Vested Rights of CalPERS Members Bottom Line: No, they can’t take that away…

| | |

The Usual

Byuclafaculty

It’s now routine. The legislature cuts the UC budget and the Regents raise tuition. From Capitol Alert, 7/14/11: University of California regents today voted to raise tuition by about $1,070, sending the total cost to $12,192 for the upcoming school year. After a recently approved $650 million cut in state funding, UC regents said they had no choice but to raise tuition to close about a quarter of the system’s $1 billion budget deficit. When combined with a previous hike, tuition will be 18 percent more — about $1,890 — in fall 2011 than it was in fall 2010. Each…

|

Dial H for Hotel?

Byuclafaculty

Some reports have been received of a telephone poll of Westwood residents being taken – allegedly on behalf of UCLA – about the hotel/conference center proposal to replace the Faculty Center. Reportedly, it is something of a push-poll, i.e., framed to elicit a positive response to the project. It is unclear who is doing the polling or whether it is actually coming from – or on behalf of – UCLA. Inquiries are being made about its source. If you receive such a call, try to elicit whatever information you can as to its source. When and if more info becomes…

| | | |

Unseemly Picture? A Proposal to Tax State Public Pensions – But Not UCRP – Is Among Three Initiatives Submitted by a Santa Barbara Group

Byuclafaculty

A group called the California Center for Public Policy submitted three initiatives to the Attorney General Tuesday. One would ban collective bargaining in the public sector in California. Two others deal with public pensions. Notably, the two pension initiatives omit the UC pension and cover only CalPERS and CalSTRS. One initiative would tax pension benefits above $100,000 with progressive surcharges. The other raises the basic retirement age to 65. Scroll down to the bottom of this entry to read the three initiatives. (Reminder: Anyone can submit initiatives for $200. It takes $1-$2 million to pay signature-gathering firms to get things…

|

Doom?

Byuclafaculty

Our previous post noted that State Treasurer Lockyer recently said he wouldn’t be surprised if the budget trigger – that gets pulled if sufficient tax revenues don’t appear – would in fact be pulled and would hit UC with another $100 million cut. For your continued enjoyment, here is some more good cheer from the Treasurer: Lockyer warns that spending cap could spell doom for higher ed Steven Harmon, Contra Costa Times, 7/14/11 State Treasurer Bill Lockyer warned that a spending cap that the Legislature qualified for the ballot will do untold harm to colleges and universities if approved by…

|

State Treasurer Thinks the Budget Trigger Might Be Pulled, Costing UC Another $100 Million

Byuclafaculty

Revenues seem to be falling short of the optimistic estimates contained in the recently passed state budget. As prior posts have noted, if revenue falls short of the estimate, that could result in a budget “trigger” being pulled, leading to more cuts from UC’s budget. From today’s Capitol Alert: Asked about the optimistic projections that state leaders relied upon, Treasurer Bill Lockyer said Wednesday that “I’m a little more skeptical personally, but I don’t have any special knowledge that would try to give you a solid answer.” He said it was less likely the state would fall so far behind…

| |

Will the Governor Begin Asking for a Limit on UC Administrative Pay? (He Just Did – Unsuccessfully – at CSU)

Byuclafaculty

Governor Brown, an ex officio UC Regent, recently complained about a $400,000 salary slated for an incoming president of San Diego State. Inside Higher Ed today provided a link to the governor’s letter to the Trustees: You can read his letter to the CSU Board of Trustees at http://gov.ca.gov/docs/SKMBT_C45011071120240.pdf However, the Board approved the salary, nonetheless. We actually have some video of what the CSU Board said on the subject and it did not seem to be receptive to the governor’s complaint: Update: No one loves administrators. See http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/07/14/new_book_argues_bloated_administration_is_what_ails_higher_education in which you can read the opinion that “a million-dollar president…

|

Westwood FlyAway Bus to Continue for 6 Months With University Subsidy

Byuclafaculty

Westwood FlyAway bus to LAX extended for 6 months Art Marroquin, 7/11/11, Daily Breeze The Westwood FlyAway bus will continue to shuttle passengers to Los Angeles International Airport for at least six more months, but one-way fares will be doubled to $10 and hours could be reduced to keep the route alive, officials said Monday. The FlyAway system’s Westwood route was on the chopping block earlier this year, but the service was granted a reprieve after airport and UCLA officials hammered out a series of revamped guidelines. Despite the changes, the route will continue to operate at a $74,000 annual…

| |

Squeeze in the Middle

Byuclafaculty

The graphic above appears in today’s Sacramento Bee along with an article indicating a tuition squeeze on the middle class at UC and CSU. The Regents’ July meeting begins today. They are expected to approve an additional tuition increase in response to the recently-passed state budget. The article related to the graphic is at http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/12/3763136/middle-class-feels-tuition-squeeze.html To aid the Regents, here is a little helper:

| |

Grim Facts Support Defined Benefits

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed today points to the issue of encouraging retirement of senior faculty and notes a report by the American Council on Education (ACE) about legal issues surrounding age discrimination, etc. Both items discuss the history of federal age discrimination law including the ending of mandatory retirement ages for faculty. Although the ACE report mentions that there are two types of pension plans – defined benefit and defined contribution – it doesn’t emphasize the obvious point. There is no particular retirement incentive under defined contribution plans, which are basically tax-favored savings accounts. You can continue to accumulate contributions to…