PEPRA – California Globe

CalPERS Still $153 Billion Underwater Despite Near Record Returns

March 12, 2026 8:06 amMarch 12, 2026 8:06 am

Thirty years of running hedge funds, private equity deals, and now outsourced CIO roles for ultra-high-net-worth family offices taught me one ironclad rule. Optimistic assumptions in a spreadsheet are just fraud wearing a tie. I watched markets crash in 2008...

Are Firefighters Hard to Recruit in California?

April 7, 2022 2:49 amApril 7, 2022 5:32 pm

In response to a recent California Policy Center analysis that provided an updated calculation of the average pay and benefits for full-time firefighters working for cities in California, one commenter claimed that it has become difficult to recruit firefighters. The accuracy...

Pension Costs Are Not the Reason California’s Schools Fail the Disadvantaged

October 21, 2020 3:38 pmOctober 21, 2020 5:36 pm

A recent guest editorial published by Bakersfield.com entitled “California’s defunding of public education” makes the case that a “pension contribution maneuver” has left school districts up and down the state with shrinking budgets. The author, Shaohua Yang, gets many of his facts...

Senator John Moorlach (Kevin Sanders for California Globe)

Why is the Prison Guards Union Targeting Senator Moorlach?

October 6, 2020 7:55 amOctober 11, 2020 1:33 pm

In a tight race, incumbent Republican state senator John Moorlach has been targeted by the prison guards union. In a report filed on October 1, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association Independent Expenditure Committee disclosed spending $910,705 on cable television ads...

California Supreme Court Finally Rules on Case Affecting Pensions

July 30, 2020 3:32 pmJuly 31, 2020 9:20 am

On Thursday the California Supreme Court issued its ruling in the case Alameda County Deputy Sheriff’s Association vs Alameda County Employees’ Retirement Association. In plain English, this was a case where attorneys representing government unions were challenging pension reforms enacted by...

Rates of Pay and Pension Debt Escalating in California’s Distressed Cities

April 29, 2020 2:29 amApril 29, 2020 10:02 am

Nobody needs reminding that California’s cities, like every other going concern in America, are heading for tough economic times. As recently as two months ago, robust collections of sales taxes, utility taxes, transient occupancy taxes, property taxes and other sources...

Post-Coronapocalypse Pension Reform Checklist for California

April 1, 2020 2:10 amApril 2, 2020 6:21 am

Pensions for state and local government employees in California are literally three to five times as costly as Social Security, and at least twice as costly as the Federal Retirement System. In a perfect world, California’s state and local...