News

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    New LAO language on funding UC pension plan

    Byuclafaculty

    The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) has issued a new proposal to the legislature that UC create a funding plan for its pension liability. The new language is below in italics. This new approach represents a shift for LAO and opens the door to state recognition of state pension funding obligations to UC. As prior posts have noted, each state dollar NOT contributed to the plan costs the plan an additional $2 in lost non-state contributions and ultimately drains the UC budget.University of California Retirement Plan Proposed LAO Compromise: Senate Plus Budget Bill Language 6-14-10 6440-001-0001 Provision 17. The Legislature requests…

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    Regents may fire first warning shot

    Byuclafaculty

    Ventura County StarThursday, June 17, 2010 It’s almost as if the board of regents that runs the University of California can’t wait to fire a warning shot across the figurative bow of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the state Legislature and the candidates now running for those positions. “Show us more money,” UC’s leaders seem to be saying, “or we’ll make some radical changes that your constituents won’t like very much.”Since regents are appointed to 12-year-terms, they will not have to face furious voters if those changes come; the politicians would have to. When it meets July 13 in San Francisco, the…

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    Governor Uses Market Numbers to Set CalPERS Contribution Rate

    Byuclafaculty

    Extra $$$s for CalPERS from State; zero for UCRP! Governor uses market numbers to set the CalPERS contribution rate! Governor to give CalPERS more funds than it asked for. Dale Kasler, Sacramento Bee, Dec. 06, 2009 With the State facing a $20.7 billion deficit over the next year and a half, Governor Schwarzenegger is willing to raise the State’s annual CalPERS contribution to $4.8 billion in the next fiscal year, even though CalPERS officials only asked for $4.1 billion. Why give more? Because the Governor thinks it is more prudent to pay the CalPERS tab as quickly as possible and…

  • Can Calpers keep its promises?

    Byuclafaculty

    Can CalPERS keep its Promises? San Francisco, Reuters, Oct. 23, 2009 Jim Christie, Reporting and Analysis This article reports that CalPERS lost more than $56 billion in its most recent fiscal year. Most likely contributions will increase significantly, at least by 2011-12.  But the choices are hard:        increasing contributions by public workers to their retirement plans, potentially by up to 50% for some employees;        raising taxes to cover higher contribution rates absorbed by government agencies, which may also jump by 50%;       cutting public services and payrolls to shift money to retirement plans;     …

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    Byuclafaculty

    The Troubles at UCRP 1. Under normal circumstances, 17.02% of covered compensation (your base salary) is the annual contribution required to maintain a healthy pension fund. For all of UC, this amounts to $1.3395 billion. The Regents’ 2010-2011 proposed budget funds UCRP at just over one third this amount. Thus, the Regents’ plan will underfund UCRP by $867 million in the academic year 2010-2011. 2. Circumstances are not normal: UCRP is no longer a fully funded pension plan. Part of this problem arose because of poor market returns, but most of the shortfall can be attributed to the 20 year…

  • Byuclafaculty

    A new report by the Legislative Analyst is out: http://www.lao.ca.gov/2009/bud/fiscal_outlook/fiscal_outlook_111809.pdfApart from the general grim outlook for the state, there is a section on higher ed and UC.  However, the pension issue is not covered in that section.  Rather, it appears on page 38 in a section on state retirement costs. No Additional State Payments for UC Retirement Programs Assumed. Consistent with past funding practices, our forecast assumes no additional state contributions between 2009‑10 and 2014‑15 to cover costs of UC’s pension and retiree health programs. Both have unfunded liabilities, and currently, no significant contributions are being paid by UC or…

  • Byuclafaculty

    What are the risks in UC turning to the federal government for funding? Is UC Davis really a national university? Read on….  “As California tightens purse strings, UC turns to Uncle Sam” by Laurel Rosenhall Tuesday, Oct. 06, 2009, Sacramento Bee This article outlines what the federal government has given to UC to help bail the system out of the current budget crisis and what UC wants in the future. In the current budget year, $700 million in federal stimulus funds went to UC to fill the gap in state funding as well as millions of federal dollars that fund…

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    Byuclafaculty

    “UC Berkeley to pay consultant to find cost cuts” San Francisco Chronicle, Monday, October 5, 2009 The San Francisco Chronicle published an article today written by Nanette Asimov in which she reported that UC Berkeley has agreed to pay a consultant $3 million to help the university save money. UCB is facing a $150 million budget deficit for the 2009-10 year. Through short-term measures like cutting faculty pay through unpaid furlough days, laying off employees, reducing course offerings, fund raising, and increasing fees, the campus has whittled that deficit down, but there is still a long way to go to…

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    Byuclafaculty

    A Medical School at UC Merced “Loose Lips: How about a shorter name, please” by Merced Sun-Star, Friday, Oct. 02, 2009 The Merced Sun Star published a short article last Friday on the process that appears to be leading to the building of a medical school at UC Merced. Campus leaders said that with funds already received from the federal government, the next step is to establish an undergraduate program that “lays the groundwork for the medical school.” The name is the highly descriptive “Center of Excellence for the Study of Health Disparities in Rural and Ethnic Underserved Populations.” The…

  • Byuclafaculty

     Sept. 23, 2009 More About Cal Grants On the FA Blogspot (www.uclafacultyassociation@blogspot.com) , we posted an interview with Tom Campbell, who is running for Governor. He is a former state legislator, former congressman, with a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. He taught economics at Stanford U and was dean of the UC Berkeley business school.  He proposes using Cal Grants to improve funding to UC. Cal Grants are awarded by the State to high school seniors to cover the costs of fees, tuition, and living expenses. There are…