The following is a response by CALPERS regarding a recent column by Contra Costa Times Columnist Dan Borenstein. According to CALPERS, despite what Borenstein claims, the anti-spiking provisions of the new pension reform laws are not being changed and will remain completely intact.
CALPERS: Borenstein Column Misleads Readers
August 15, 2014
For those readers of Dan Borenstein’s column we offer a few words of caution about his latest editorial, “CalPERS prepares to undermine statewide pension changes.”
The anti-spiking provisions of the new pension reform laws are not being changed and will remain completely intact. These include laws that require pensions to be based on the average of a person’s last three years of final compensation, a cap on final compensation that can be used to calculate pension benefits, and the prohibition against adding things like vacation balances to final compensation totals in order to pad a pension.
This last provision CalPERS eliminated was in 1993, over twenty years ago – hardly the action of an institution with the intent to undermine. The question now is how unique compensation should be treated for new employees. CalPERS has approached this issue with full transparency and sought stakeholder input along the way, including employee and employer feedback.
The purpose of the public hearing next week is to seek even greater input on what compensation should and should not be counted toward pensions.
While reasonable people (including Dan Borenstein) may disagree about what aspects of a public servant’s compensation should count toward a pension, Borenstein should stick to the facts and not try to inflame his readers with inaccurate terms like “pension spiking.” Pay for a service is still compensation at the end of the day. Our staff made a recommendation based on a good faith interpretation of the law. If changes need to be made, we welcome the public’s input.
6 comments
I never trust what CalPERS says. Their track record is very poor.
I’m not sure about your experiences Julio, but I would trust Calpers way before I would believe anything that came from Dan Borenstein. When it comes to dishonesty, that guy takes the cake. in my opinion the Calpers response was very appropriate.
Does anyone even read the paper anymore? It’s not what it use to be.
Dan Boringstein is a media joke. Thanks ECT for publishing this. It’s about time someone takes the little weasel to task. I know dozens of people who have cancelled subscriptions to the paper because of his articles and editorials. Calpers put it perfectly: “Borenstein should stick to the facts and not try to inflame readers with inaccurate terms…”
His track record is below poor-it’s deplorable.
You’re right Julio.
I trust Borenstein more than Calpers, though I see why they don’t like him after he called out their VP for violating ethics laws for the fourth time in eight years. Ouch!
Btw, the editorial Calpers is ripping here never even uses the term “spiking”, be it about pensions or volleyballs.
Stick to those two facts and it’s Calpers’ management that is deplorable.
Concerned Voter,
Just like Dan Borenstein, you seem to be confused. Here is a link to the Borenstein editorial to reduce your confusion. http://www.contracostatimes.com/editorial/ci_26336889/contra-costa-times-editorial-calpers-prepares-undermine-statewide
You don’t have to read very far to find the spiking comments. Ouch!
It’s easy to see why you fall for Borensteins lazy journalism.
Calpers is accountable to its members as well as the public. The agency has always corrected mistakes when made. Are they perfect no, but when you run the Nations largest retirement fund mistakes are bound to occur. In the end they are always accountable.
I can’t say the same for Borenstein. I have met the man on several occasions and I’m quite familiar with his ethics and tactics. When presented with facts he chooses to ignore and avoid them altogether. It quite interesting to watch. Deplorable comes to mind.
Those are facts. Perhaps you should stick to volleyball.
Dan Borenstein and the newspaper can’t figure out why no one seems to agree with their pension ideas. Clearly a line drawn in the sand between those that comprehend the pension system and those that write angry columns for a living. But Dan doesn’t get it! He thinks someone appointed him champion of pension reform when in fact he. Is nothing more than a Monday-morning quarterback with a grudge. If he really wanted to understand why pension boards do what they do he would approach the subject with an open mind. Short of doing so he has done nothing more than inflame the public with his rhetoric and 1/2 truths. It’s what the letter from Calpers asserts which resonates with those that do understand the pension system and the need to take care of the people that take care of us. Change pensions to the degree that Borenstein desires and you will achieve a few things; an unhappy, untrained, under-skilled workforce of 70-75 year old employees. In the public safety sector that is unacceptable and the biggest point Borenstein wants you to overlook. Saving a dime will end up costing you a dollar.
Even the Governor gets it. Too bad Dan Borenstein doesn’t.
“When it comes to public employee pensions, Gov. Jerry Brown is trying to have it both ways as he decries CalPERS for undermining his 2012 changes to state retirement laws.
The nation’s largest government worker pension system on Wednesday ignored the spirit and letter of the legislation as it created 99 different ways for new employees to inflate their pensions.
Brown only objected to one, thereby giving tacit consent to the other 98. Yet, after the vote, the governor promised “to determine what actions can be taken to protect the integrity of the Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act.”
How cynical. Facing re-election, Brown portrays himself as the defender of public coffers as he battles the mighty California Public Employees’ Retirement System. In fact, he capitulated to its administrative gutting of key provisions in the law he championed two years ago.
We differed with the governor back then when he declined to trim future pension benefit accruals for current employees. But we cut him some slack because he didn’t want to wade into a legal quagmire over so-called “vested rights” for workers already on the job.
The primary savings from his legislation, as small as they were, would come years down the line from restoring rationality to benefits for new workers. Now Brown is supporting letting those employees inflate their pensions much like current workers.
At issue is the long list of add-on pay items that can be counted as income when calculating pensions.
Under the new law, current employees can still include “special compensation” for “special skills, knowledge, abilities, work assignment, workdays or hours, or other work conditions.”
But the 2012 law didn’t allow new employees to include those extra pay items. Their retirement income should be based only on “normal monthly rate of pay or base pay.”
The CalPERS board ignored that and passed rules on Wednesday allowing new workers to count special pay items for things such as longevity, being a notary, working on a library reference desk, staying physically fit and “audio visual” assignments. For police the list includes extra pay for DUI traffic officers, marksmanship and completing Peace Officer Standard Training courses.
To make matters worse, no one bothered to estimate the long-term cost of CalPERS’ action.
The governor did object to one item, which allows workers who receive pay raises for temporary assignments to count that higher income in pension calculations. He’s right: It’s ripe for abuse and it violates the letter of the law.
But so do the other 98 items. If only he’d “protect the integrity” of the rest of the legislation.”
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