UC Regents

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Academic Council Endorses Yudof Plan on Retirement Benefit Changes

Byuclafaculty

The Academic Council has endorsed the Yudof proposals for changes in post-employment benefits (pension, retiree health care) that will presumably be adopted by the Regents at the December special session. Below is the text of a letter confirming the endorsement. I have verified that the letter is a public document, although – at this writing – it has not yet been posted on the systemwide Senate website. November 24, 2010 MARK YUDOF, PRESIDENT UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Re: Post-Employment Benefits Dear Mark: I am pleased to advise you that at its meeting on November 22, 2010, the Academic Council unanimously endorsed…

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Mystery Resolved: Special Regents Meeting Dec. 13

Byuclafaculty

There are mysteries out there that are reported to be solved. And if you read the earlier post on the mystery of the missing December Regents meeting, I can now report that the mystery has been resolved. To recap: The Regents in November received the Yudof plan for modifying post-employment benefits (pensions, retiree health care). However, the November meeting was an information session regarding those benefits – no decision was made. The decision date was set for a special December meeting which was not listed on the UCOP/Regents website. According to the email below, that session is set for December…

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Inquiring Minds Wonder About the December Regents Meeting: What’s the Mystery?

Byuclafaculty

A special Regents session to deal with President Yudof’s recommendations on revising UC retirement benefits has been scheduled for December. That there will be such a session has been known for a long time. However, the December schedule (or any reference at all to the December meeting), mysteriously does not appear on the Regents official website, which (at this writing) continues to list the mid-November session as the last 2010 meeting. As earlier posts document, the mid-November meeting was when the retirement proposals were outlined – but not decided. December is to be the decision date. Since the special December…

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A Misleading Headline: Darrell Steinberg Blasts UC and CSU Fee Increases

Byuclafaculty

Today’s Sacramento Bee Capitol Alert blog carries the headline “Darrell Steinberg blasts UC and CSU fee increases.” It goes on to describe a letter sent by California Senate President Darrell Steinberg addressed to Regents Chair Gould, UC President Yudof, and their counterparts at CSU. Here is an excerpt from the text of the Capitol Alert blog: Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, has written to state university chiefs to object to new fee increases after legislators restored and boosted state funding this year to the embattled systems. During tough budget negotiations, Steinberg said in a letter Thursday, “we provided…

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A Little Help From Our Friends at Stanford

Byuclafaculty

It seems likely that when the Regents meet for their special session in December, they will ultimately approve President Yudof’s recommendations on pensions and retiree health. If you listen to the Regents session of the last two days (see the earlier postings on this blog), the presentation of those recommendations went off with little debate. Furthermore, it seems unlikely that Jerry Brown, when he becomes governor, or the legislature would override UC or put something on the ballot that would sweep UC into some statewide pension reform plan. However, there is ongoing agitation in the state about the public pension…

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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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Day 1 at the Regents: Capital Projects

Byuclafaculty

Today (Nov. 16) was the quiet day at the Regents. No issues of tuition, pensions, etc. A bunch of capital projects were approved. There was a bit of questioning about whether the state would pay for such projects, or even float general obligations bonds to pay for them. Of course, the answer was “no.” An argument was made that UC needed to have shovel-ready projects in case someone did step up to pay for them. But that seems unlikely with the new and likely paralyzed Congress and the condition of the state budget. Nonetheless, there was little dissent. You can…

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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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Regents Session on Tuition, Nov. 18

Byuclafaculty

The Regents take up increasing tuition (still termed “fees” until they change the name) on Nov. 18 at the 8:50 AM session. You can find the background material at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/nov10/f10.pdf As you might expect, the proposal is more complicated than the single 8% figure reported in the news media. However, the chart above (from page 9) is clear enough so that you can see we are no longer among the cheapest public institutions. The proposal for increases in professional school fees is at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/nov10/f11.pdf It is more complex than the undergrad/grad proposal, with considerable variation among the different schools.

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Regents Session on Retiree Health, Nov. 17

Byuclafaculty

The Regents will take up retiree health on Wednesday, Nov. 17, in a session beginning 10:15 AM. You can find the background materials at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/nov10/f4.pdf The chart above, which does not appear very clearly as reproduced in this blog, is on page 5. It shows the retiree health program’s unfunded liability. In fact, the program is not prefunded so virtually all funding is pay-as-you-go. But the background report treats it in the same way that the pension plan is treated. The chart shows the unfunded liability – with no change in the participant contribution policy – rising from around $15…