governor

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UC Budget Proposal for 2012-13 Readied for Regents

Byuclafaculty

President Yudof’s UC budget proposal for 2012-13, scheduled for discussion at the Regents on Nov. 17, is now posted. The key links are http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/nov11/f12.pdf and http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/nov11/f11attach.pdf The proposal includes a request for increased “core” funding by 8%. Notably included is a contribution to the UC pension – which the state has not been doing since contributions resumed. There appears to be an arbitrary request for one fourth of the employer contribution ($87.6 million). See the last page of the second link. Why just one fourth is requested is not clear. Since this seems to be public pension year, given the…

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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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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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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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Too Much Pension News (and Some Useful Data)

Byuclafaculty

The Regents Committee on Compliance and Audit is meeting via teleconference on Nov. 7 in advance of the general Regents meeting the following week. We will post the audio when it becomes available. The agenda for the full Regents meeting has not been posted yet, but the Regents are likely to have some discussion related to the governor’s pension proposals. Included in the Committee’s agenda is an audit of the pension plan. Below is a data summary taken from that audit. The full document is at: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/nov11/a5attach4.pdf = = = = = = = = = = = = =…

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Crane Likely to Pick Up on Pension Issue at Next Regents Meeting

Byuclafaculty

Regent David Crane – a last-minute appointee to the Regents by Gov. Schwarzenegger – has been a public pension hawk and has made remarks about collective bargaining that ensured he would not be confirmed. Assuming he attends the November Regents meeting (Crane’s last given the non-confirmation), he is likely to say something about the pension issue. The Regents’ agenda for November is not yet posted. But even if the pension item is not a formal agenda topic, Crane can bring it up. That is not a Bad Thing. The Regents should be informed about the impact of the governor’s pension…

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Was that Jerry or Casey at the Bat (on pensions)?

Byuclafaculty

Now that it is clear the governor wants UC to be part of his public sector pension proposal, you might be curious about what the Legislative Analyst thinks: LAO calls pension plan excellent start Duane W. Gang, Riverside Press-Enterprise 10/27/11 California’s nonpartisan legislative analyst praised Gov. Jerry Brown’s pension plan Thursday and said it deserves consideration by the Legislature. “I thought it knocked the ball out of the park,” Mac Taylor, who heads the Legislative Analyst’s Office, said during a lecture series at his alma mater, UC Riverside. “I think it is an excellent start.” … Full article at http://www.pe.com/local-news/politics/duane-gang-headlines/20111027-inland-lao-calls-pension-plan-excellent-start.ece…

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Things are Tough in Sacramento So We Don’t Yet Have Final Word on UC Coverage

Byuclafaculty

We’re still waiting for the definitive answer as of Friday afternoon as to whether UC is covered by the governor’s pension proposal. But apparently, folks at the Dept. of Finance and Legislature are busy with other matters: California Finance Director Ana Matosantos arrested on DUI charge http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2011/10/california-finance-director-ana-matosantos-arrested-on-suspicion-of-dui.html (The budget must be worse than anyone imagined.) Folks in the legislature have also been busy: Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi arrested for shoplifting http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2011/10/report-assemblywoman-hayashi-arrested-for-shoplifting.html When things settle down up north and we get final info, we’ll post it. UPDATE: UC’s coverage by the governor’s pension plan has now been confirmed. More info will be…

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The Morning After (the Guv’s Pension Plan): What Do We Know?

Byuclafaculty

It’s the morning after the governor’s press conference announcing his pension proposals – and we still do not have definite word as to whether UC is covered. The LA Times version says all state and local employees are covered. Excerpt: Who would be affected? All state and local public employees. Current workers would be expected to pay at least half of their retirement costs, but the higher retirement age and new savings plan would apply only to employees hired later. See http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/la-me-pension-qa-20111028,0,4930171.story And there is a lot of fuzziness in the announced plan. For example, how do you “cap” a…

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The Guv on Pensions: What did he say?

Byuclafaculty

Governor Brown has now held his press conference on public pensions. His proposals clearly covered CalPERS and CalSTRS. Coverage of UC was not mentioned. But the governor did make an off-hand reference to UC’s long pension holiday, i.e., the two-decade period of zero contributions. The governor released a 12-point plan but one element, a kind of total cap on pension amounts, was not mentioned on the list of the twelve. [A cap is mentioned but not linked to defined contributions.] Yet, in response to a reporter’s question, he said a cap was intended but that it was complicated because of…