News

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LAO Report on UC and Other Public Pensions

Byuclafaculty

The Legislative Analyst has just released a report on the governor’s proposal for public pensions. The report states that the “Governor’s Proposal Is a Bold, Excellent Starting Point” and then goes into a detailed analysis. Most of the report is not about UC, although it does note that changing the UC plan might well involve amending the constitution. But it does have a section on UC reproduced below: What About UC? UCRP Also Has a Major Funding Problem. From 1990 to 2010, UC and its employees enjoyed a remarkable two–decade pension funding holiday due principally to (1) substantial overfunding of…

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No Smoking Better Than No Scoping

Byuclafaculty

In case you haven’t noticed the signs near the Westwood Blvd. entrance to UCLA, the health center is going entirely no smoking on Nov. 17. It’s good to have no smoking. But as yesterday’s post pointed out, no scoping is not so good. We are still awaiting the scoping report on the new hotel/conference center plan which is supposed to be discussed at a public meeting next week. http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2011/11/waiting-for-scoping-report.html

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DB or Not DB: That is the question

Byuclafaculty

One of the characteristics of a defined benefit (DB) pension such as the current UC plan is that – in contrast to defined contribution (DC) plans – it provides a strong incentive to retire for long-service employees. The two-tier version enacted by the Regents for new hires still preserves the DB format. For faculty renewal, this feature can be important. The governor’s proposal for state and local pensions (including UC) would substitute a “hybrid” plan which is a mix of DB and DC. The more DC there is in a plan, the less you get the incentive to retire. As…

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Waiting for the Scoping Report

Byuclafaculty

As a prior post indicated, there is supposed to be a “scoping” report regarding the revised and relocated proposal for a UCLA hotel/conference center. The presentation of the scoping report is scheduled for a week from today. It will take place on Monday, November 14, 7-9 PM, at the Faculty Center. It is getting late to release the report so there can be a public examination of it prior to November 14. We are waiting patiently, but it would be nice to see the scope up on the web. If you are interested in attending the November 14 meeting, send…

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Ham and Eggs: November 15

Byuclafaculty

The UCLA Faculty Women’s Club will be hosting yours truly on Tuesday, November 15, 1:30 PM, at the Faculty Center to talk about “Ham and Eggs Pensions in California.” Below is the text from the above announcement. FDR wasn’t the only one who wanted to end destitution among the elderly. Even after Social Security became law, about 80 old-age pension proposals competed for support in California alone. The most prominent and sensational became known as“Ham and Eggs.” It promised “$30 every Thursday” for each unemployed Californian aged 50 or older. The idea was that every pensioner deserved a square meal…

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The Governor is the Lone Ranger on the Trigger

Byuclafaculty

The Sacramento Bee today carries a story about the budget for next year, the trigger based on this year’s revenues, etc. It refers to various projections made by the governor and others which unfortunately continue the standard state (and local) practice of mixing up stocks and flows and using words such as “deficit” outside the common meaning. First, it talks about a projected “deficit” for next year of around $3 billion. Anyone is free to project. But what was adopted last June was a budget for 2011-12. Anything beyond that is at most a “workload” projection. And, if you mean…

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Stolen Data

Byuclafaculty

UCLA Health System warns patients personal information was stolen Anna Gorman, Los Angeles Times. 11/5/11 The UCLA Health System is warning thousands of patients that their personal information was stolen and they are at risk of possible identity theft, officials said in a statement released Friday. Officials don’t believe the information has been accessed or misused but are referring patients to a data security company if their name and credit are affected. Information from 16,288 patients was taken from the home of a physician whose house was burglarized Sept. 6, according to the UCLA Health System… The theft is not…

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Occupy UC?

Byuclafaculty

UC, CSU campuses to be site of economic-based protests Sacramento Bee, 11/5/11, Laurel Rosenhall The wave of anger at banks that has swept the country with the recent Occupy movement is coming to California college campuses next week. …The group sent letters Friday to University of California regents and trustees of the California State University, asking them to sign a pledge to support five items: increasing income taxes on California’s wealthiest; changing Proposition 13 so that corporate property taxes could rise; enacting a federal sales tax on large-scale financial transactions; reducing underwater mortgage debt; and reversing tuition increases, layoffs, and…