Op ed from the Daily Bruin: ...The state has consistently shirked its responsibility to fund
the University of California Retirement Program in the same way it funds
other state-level pension programs, including CalPERS, the California
State University pension program. (The official) contention has been that the
UC’s pension program is autonomous and the state has no control over the
level of benefits it doles out. But the logic here is flawed; the state helped fund UCRP before 1990.
The UC and its pension plan were no less autonomous during the decades
that the state made consistent contributions to UCRP, so using that fact
as an excuse to keep funding at zero is nonsensical. The state’s reason
for cutting funding in the first place had nothing to do with autonomy,
but with the fact that UCRP was overfunded at that time and the state
was going through a fiscal downturn. Ultimately, the legislature should keep in mind one basic fact:
public institutions and public debts are the responsibility of the
state. The University of California is a public institution. It owes a large
public debt partially because the state stopped funding that debt for
two decades. The UC has taken responsibility for its part in bringing
that debt under control. But now, the state owes it to the University
and the public at large to make its own contribution.
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