uc retirement

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December Brings a Special Legislative Session on the State Budget

Byuclafaculty

One of Governor Schwarzenegger’s last major actions was to call an emergency session on the state budget. Although he is a lame duck at this point and will be out of office in early January, the legislature begins anew in December. The state is carrying a legacy debt of about $6 billion in the general fund (i.e., the fund is projected to close on June 30, 2011 with a negative balance of -$6 billion). A projected operating deficit on a workload basis for next year – the year beginning July 1, 2011 – is about $19 billion. Of course, we…

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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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Guest Op Ed: The UCRP Train Wreck

Byuclafaculty

The UCRP Train Wreck Professor Steven LippmanGeorge W. Robbins Chair in ManagementUCLA Anderson School of Management UCOP intends for the employers’ contribution to UCRP be ratcheted up to 20% by July 1, 2017. The now-planned contribution of 20% from all employers of UC personnel (which includes NIH and other granting agencies as well as the hospitals and medical centers) and 7% from all employees falls short of preventing the current $13 Billion underfunding at UCRP from worsening. At present, employees plus employers pay in 6% of the $8 billion covered compensation (CC) which amounts to $480 million per year. This…

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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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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…

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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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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…