pensions

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Day 2: Regents Sessions 11-17-10

Byuclafaculty

Below are audios (videos with a still picture) of the Regents session of 11-17-10. The morning sessions – which actually ran until about 12:30 PM – are divided into 16 parts. Most of the afternoon sessions were closed but the one open session is included. To hear the sessions, start by clicking the large circle below. Then click on the various urls below that. The afternoon open session is the last entry. Here is the agenda for 11-17-10: 8:30 am Committee of the Whole (public comment) 9:30 am Committee on Educational Policy (open session) 10:15 am Committee on Finance (open…

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Regents to Approve Next Year’s Budget on Nov. 18

Byuclafaculty

The Regents will be approving a budget for 2011-12 at their meeting of Nov. 18, 8:50 AM session. The total UC proposed budget for the coming year will be $22.6 billion. Of that total, $3.5 billion is requested from the state, up from $2.9 billion in the current year. Of the $600 million increase being requested from the state, $172 million is for pension funding. I will leave it to the reader to estimate the probability that the state will cough up what is being requested. You can find the budget document at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/nov10/f9attach2.pdf The figures to which I refer…

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Yudof’s Pension/Retiree Health Plans Getting Outside Criticism

Byuclafaculty

As previous posts have noted, UC has proceeded on its proposed modification of the pension and retiree health plans with an inward looking focus. The external world may not be so receptive. Even before the formal presentation to the Regents later this week, there is public criticism. See below: UC changes barely touch retirement cost problem (excerpt) Daniel Borenstein, MediaNews columnist, Contra Costa Times Posted: 11/13/2010 09:00:00 PM PSTUpdated: 11/15/2010 08:34:45 AM PST GENEROUS retirement programs that have been irresponsibly managed for decades are pushing the University of California off a financial cliff. President Mark Yudof will ask regents this…

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More Reality Comes to the Regents on Nov. 18

Byuclafaculty

Even more reality will arrive on the morning of Nov. 18 at the Regents, when they take up pensions and retiree health care. The documentation for that session is at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/nov10/j3.pdf A quick review of that documentation suggests that the $2 for $1 issue is not well explained when borrowing from STIP is discussed. But that is not new; it wasn’t well explained at the campus sessions. In a previous post, you can hear yours truly make that point at the UCLA session. Anyway, in a few decades we can all sing:

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The Horror, The Horror, the State Budget

Byuclafaculty

The Legislative Analyst has come out with his budget outlook. Guess what? It’s a horror story. In rough terms, last year’s budget (with all the trickery involved) was “balanced” in the sense of inflows = outflows. But it contained a legacy of past sin to the tune of about $6 billion. The budget recently enacted for this year is also roughly “balanced,” but it also carries forward the $6 billion in past sins. So if that were the extent of the problem, we would probably do what Schwarzenegger did when he took office, i.e., finance the past sins by some…

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Do Onto Others But Not Onto You

Byuclafaculty

Background: With the late Keith Richman, OC supervisor John Moorlach has been a major figure in the movement to move public employees in California from defined-benefit pension to defined contribution. (Meg Whitman had favored DC and might have put it on the ballot, had she been elected governor. That possibility – a ballot initiative – still exists.) When confronted with changing his pension to DC, Mr. Moorlach seems to be having second thoughts: Supervisors Will Study Giving Up Pensions November 9, 2010, Voice of OC Newly elected Orange County Supervisor Shawn Nelson made another baby step Tuesday toward his goal…

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Yudof Explains Tuition Increase in Public Letter: Tries to Mitigate Bad News with Good News But Comes Across as an Apology

Byuclafaculty

Most of the media coverage in fact focuses on the tuition increase, not the mitigating subsidies to lower income student nor the material on the quality of UC. Whether intended or not, the letter was likely seen as an apology for the increase.———————–Open letter to California fromUC President Mark G. Yudof 2010-11-08 The University of California was conceived in the immediate aftermath of the Gold Rush, and ever since the fortunes of the state and those of the university have been entwined. One would not be the same without the other. The university is both a creation of and the…

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CalSTRS can apparently wait to cut its estimated investment return to UC level

Byuclafaculty

From the Sacramento Bee: The CalSTRS board Friday postponed a crucial decision on reducing its investment-return forecast because two of its members were absent. Jack Ehnes, chief executive of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, said the board wanted every one of its 12 members present for the decision. The vote is now set for Dec. 2. CalSTRS’ staff has recommended that the forecast of annual returns be cut by half a percentage point, to 7.5 percent… Note that if CalSTRS and CalPERS eventually go to our 7.5%, we can no longer claim to be more conservative than the two…

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Threat Level Reduced on Pensions

Byuclafaculty

The victory of Jerry Brown in the gubernatorial race likely means that the threat of a defined contribution plan as the new lower-tier pension is off the table. Meg Whitman supported defined contribution. Still, as the story below notes, there were a number of pension initiatives at the local level on the ballot and most passed. (San Francisco was an exception.) So the possibility that someone might put a pension proposition on the state ballot remains. Pension reforms sweep, except San Francisco (excerpt) November 4, 2010 by Ed Mendel, calpensions.com Voters approved seven ballot measures Tuesday aimed at curbing or…

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CalSTRS May Lower Expected Investment Return to UC Level

Byuclafaculty

The large CalSTRS pension fund has used an expected investment return of 8% per annum. That figure is higher than the 7.5% assumption in the UC pension system. Apparently, CalSTRS may soon go to the UC level. Excerpt from the Sacramento Bee: CalSTRS faces prospect of lowering forecast Nov. 2, 2010, Dale Kasler CalSTRS once again faces the controversial task of cutting its investment return forecast, a move that could put more pressure on the Legislature to increase its annual contribution to the teachers pension fund. At its meeting Friday, the CalSTRS governing board is scheduled to vote on a…