pension

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Let’s Start With This Idea on the Pension Initiative: One Size Doesn’t Fit All

Byuclafaculty

Don’t buy it. Editorial: The pension (and retiree health) initiative on which we have been reporting on this blog sweeps in UC for no particular reason.  Yet all the propaganda concerning it so far deals with mayors and cities.  UC has no mayor and isn’t a city. Were the Regents consulted by initiative proponents?  Was anyone at UCOP consulted?  Anyone at UC at all?  Yours truly sincerely doubts it.  Did anyone in the group pushing the initiative look at such issues as faculty recruitment, compensation, or any other UC issue?  Did they look at the issue of the constitutional autonomy…

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Pension Initiative Backstop

Byuclafaculty

We have been covering the pension initiative that has now been filed with the state and, in an earlier post, discussed some key elements of the initiative (including the coverage of UC).  An interesting element in the initiative is a provision that provides for defense in court of the initiative by private parties.  It is quite likely that if the initiative passed, it would be challenged in court.  And the attorney general might well refuse to defend it, given the politics of the initiative. In the case of Prop 8 – the anti-gay marriage initiative – the attorney general did…

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Curtain Lifted on Pension Initiative

Byuclafaculty

Prior posts have alerted readers of this blog to a forthcoming public pension initiative.  The group that has been working on the initiative seems to have money for a campaign.  It takes $1-$2 million for signature gathering firms to get an initiative on the ballot.  If an initiative is controversial, it may take loads more money for TV advertising to mount a campaign. The initiative explicitly covers UC.  It has some ambiguous elements which we hope to unscramble.  Government employers are given the power to modify pensions and retiree health plans going forward for incumbent employees.  Note that the 2010…

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Public Pension Drumbeat Continues. UC Needs to Begin Planning for Staying Out of Planned Initiative

Byuclafaculty

On Saturday, we alerted blog readers to the coordinated campaign to get some kind of public pension “reform” initiative on the California ballot.  At issue on Saturday was a Stanford-Hoover MOOC, ostensibly about retirement investing, but which culminates in a program on public pensions. The pension drumbeat continues, at this point by articles on the issue. For example, a recent op-ed in the San Diego Union-Tribune goes on about various municipal bankruptcies but contains a suggestion for a constitutional amendment in California.  The legislature is not about to put such an amendment on the ballot so it could only by…

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More Pension Tension (from a Stanford-Hoover MOOC)

Byuclafaculty

Closed? Maybe it moved to Palo Alto. We have noted on this blog that there seems to be a move to get a public pension initiative on the ballot in California.  Although there have been previous efforts, there are signs that there may be money behind the current attempt.  “Coincidentally” – as they say – it appears that the Stanford Business School and the Hoover Institute are setting up a MOOC which on its face seems to be about general retirement issues such as how to invest your money.  But it somehow ends in a what-to-do-about-public-pensions program. From a media…

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UC Health Union Says It Will Take Strike Vote

Byuclafaculty

Union Demonstration against imposed terms, July 26, 2013 First, some legalities and background: Last summer, UC declared an impasse in its negotiations with AFSCME 3299, the union that held a two-day strike in the spring.  Under state law governing collective bargaining (a statute for UC and CSU known as HEERA), once an impasse exists, an employer can unilaterally impose terms and conditions.  Note that the determination of an impasse can be fuzzy.  In this case, the union filed unfair labor practice charges against UC in connection with the dispute and strike. The charges involve interrogation of particular employees about their…

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Fossils

Byuclafaculty

If you have listened to the public comment sessions at Regents meetings posted on this blog, you will have heard statements from a student group pushing the Regents to divest its pension and other portfolios from “fossil fuels.”  By this demand, the group – which is part of a national movement – appears to mean not just oil-coal-gas producers but also at least some major utilities.  We have noted that there are problems with using other peoples’ money to favor or disfavor particular political/social causes, partly involving the esoteric elements of finance and returns to the portfolio, but also the…

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Orchestration of Public Pension Issue? Issue for UC?

Byuclafaculty

In a prior post, we noted that there appeared to be a campaign underway by various groups to put a public pension initiative on the California ballot.  We noted that there have been such efforts in the past, but the money needed to mount an effective campaign wasn’t forthcoming.  Now, there may be such money.  The problem for UC is that we tend to be swept into such initiatives despite the fact that the Regents adopted their own pension plan changes back in 2010. This time around, there seems to be some coordination and orchestration of the campaign, e.g.: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/09/30/5782679/capitol-alert-cal-tax-estimates.html…

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The Arrival

Byuclafaculty

Today, the news media seem to be focused on the first day of school.  No, not the students’ first day.  Janet Napolitano’s. From the LA Times: Janet Napolitano begins her new job as University of California president Monday, promising to “listen and learn” about the many issues facing the sprawling 10-campus university system… During her first couple of weeks, she will review budgets and operations and meet with students, faculty, staff, campus chancellors, state elected officials and others, according to UC spokesman Steve Montiel. She will greet the headquarters staff at a reception Monday afternoon. Napolitano has stressed that “her…

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Possible Pension Initiative Which Would Include UC

Byuclafaculty

In a move to slash the retirement benefits of public employees in California, a group of mostly conservative policy advocates has been working behind the scenes on a possible 2014 ballot initiative. A copy of the still-secret draft initiative, which could dramatically impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of Californians and send a signal nationwide, has been obtained by Frying Pan News. If enacted, the proposed law would allow the state and local governments to cut back retirement benefits for current employees for the years of work they perform after the changes go into effect. Previous efforts to curb…