pension

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Help for the UC Budget? The Pension Fund?

Byuclafaculty

From President Yudof’s Facebook page today comes the information below. Question: Can we use the coin for the UC budget? Maybe put it in the pension fund? Rare Coin Discovered in Israel by Mark Yudof on Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 11:45am Congratulations to my good friend Andrea Berlin, a distinguished archeologist, who was part of an American team that discovered the heaviest gold coin ever found in Israel. The find, at Tel Kedesh archeological dig site, near Israel’s border with Lebanon, dates to 190 BCE, exactly when a final peace treaty was established between the Ptolemies of Egypt and…

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Sweeping Pension Changes by New Governor Could Cover UC if Regents Don’t Act

Byuclafaculty

While the article below refers only to CalPERS and CalSTRS, as has been noted in prior posts, UC is in danger of having its pension system covered by some sweeping initiative that would cover all public pensions in California. A new governor takes office in early January 2011. Unless UC has a plan of its own – and unless the Regents push for UC autonomy as other statewide policies are debated – the consequences could be unfortunate. Note part in bold italics below. — Pension reform: Brown picks up where he left off (excerpts) By Ed Mendel calpensions.com 7/31/10 In…

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NY Times Debate on Aging Professoriate

Byuclafaculty

The New York Times website today features a debate among various academics about the problem (some don’t think it is one) of professors who don’t retire. One participant calls for reinstatement of mandatory retirement. (Mandatory retirement for faculty was ended under federal law in the 1980s.) None of the participants notes that under a defined-benefit (DB) pension, such as we have at UC, there is a strong incentive to retire. Long-service employees under DB pensions lose one year of pension for each year they don’t retire. You can end up working for nothing if you stay. Universities that have defined-contribution…

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What Retirees Are Being Told by UCOP About Possible Changes in Retiree Health Care and Pensions

Byuclafaculty

Judgment Day is Coming from the Post-Employment Benefits Task Force According to the “New Dimensions” Benefits Newsletter for UC Retirees, July 2010, published by UC Human Resources at UCOP. Below is the relevant article: Post-Employment Benefits Task Force to Send Recommendations to President Yudof Predictable but reduced UC contributions for retiree health premiums and changes in eligibility for retiree health benefits for many future UC retirees are among the options the Post Employment Benefits Task Force is considering sending to UC President Mark G. Yudof. After more than a year of study, discussion and wide consultation, the task force is…

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Post-Employment Benefits session audios

Byuclafaculty

The UC Post-Employment Benefits Taskforce was hosted by the UCLA Academic Senate on 5-4-10. Below are links to audios (videos with a still picture) of that session. The audios are in 10 parts. Parts 1-8 run about 14 minutes each. Parts 9 and 10 run about 8 minutes each. You can access these audios at the following addresses: PEB audios 5-4-10 Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 (end)

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State Fiscal Developments as of July 1

Byuclafaculty

The new state fiscal year has begun with no budget enacted. In the short term, there are few consequences although the longer the no-budget period drags on, the more notable the impact as various state suppliers and local entities are not paid. UC has typically been able to deal with prolonged budget delays although certain payments to it are delayed. A list of what the state controller can and cannot pay can be found at: http://www.sco.ca.gov/July_2010_payments.html Until a day or so ago, there were 3 budget plans: the governor’s May revise and separate plans from the Democrats in the assembly…

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Little Hoover Commission on Public Pensions in California

Byuclafaculty

The State’s “Little Hoover Commission” is holding hearings on public pensions in California. There was a hearing yesterday on legal issues and one today 6-24-10. There does not appear to be any direct participation of UC in these hearings. Whether the UC pension is included in some background reports for the hearings is unknown (to me). The agenda is at: http://www.lhc.ca.gov/studies/activestudies/pension/Public_Notice_06-24-10.pdf UC’s unique pension situation tends to be lost in state discussions of the much larger CalPERS and CalSTRS systems. Note: A radio discussion of public pensions – including yours truly – can be heard at:http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R201006180900 A Sacramento Bee report…