UC Pension Swept In (and away?)

As noted in a prior post, an organization known as the “California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility” issued a study yesterday on public pensions. UCRP is included in the study but is not discussed. As often noted on this blog, that has been a general problem of discussions of the pension issue in California.

UC is swept in but, at the same time, its special features are neglected and the focus is instead on CalPERS and other plans. In the frenzy over public pensions – with possible ballot initiatives (or possibly some deal on the state budget that would involve pensions – the December Regents’ modification of UCRS could be overridden.

Most of the discussion in the study focuses on other state and local pension plans. The general theme is that public employees in California are somewhat overpaid, mainly because retirement benefits are substantially higher than in the private sector.

Thestudy then looks at two alternatives. One involves a pension cap based on Social Security which would currently be around $80,000, along with restrictions on retiree health care. The other involves conversion to a defined contribution plan. Both would apply to current employees as well as new hires. A slide show based on the study can be read at:

Open publication - Free publishing

Chapter 1 of the study can be read at http://issuu.com/danieljbmitchell/docs/fritz-pension-chapter_1?viewMode=magazine

Chapter 2 can be read at http://issuu.com/danieljbmitchell/docs/fritz-pension-chapter_2?viewMode=magazine

Bios of the study authors are at http://issuu.com/danieljbmitchell/docs/fritz-pension-bios-genest-williams-peters?viewMode=magazine

Yours truly has uploaded these documents because items put on the web sometimes disappear or are modified. The original source is http://www.fixpensionsfirst.com/comparing-public-and-private-employee-compensation-and-retirement-benefits-in-california/

(Also at that source is the press release accompanying the report that was reproduced in the blog yesterday.)

Sweeping generalizations about public pensions do not focus on the specific needs of UC. Sweeping can be dangerous: