Pension Bill

A bill in the legislature previously submitted to discourage "offshoring" of currently-internal UC work has been modified instead to discourage the opt-out element in the UC pension as it applies to new hires. New hires may opt out of the traditional defined-benefit (DB) pension into a defined-contribution (DC) plan, essentially a tax-favored savings account. The bill bans outside contracts to manage such a DC-only plan. It is unclear that such a ban would prevent UC from operating such a DC-only plan using internal personnel, however. The bill seems to ban contracts beginning in January 1, 2015. It is unclear what that pre-2019 date means. Presumably, any such pre-existing contracts could not be voided retroactively. (The date could be a drafting error.)

SB-715 University of California retirement plans: asset managers: contracts.(2019-2020)
AMENDED  IN  SENATE  MARCH 28, 2019
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL No. 715, Introduced by Senator Galgiani, February 22, 2019

An act to amend the heading of Chapter 3.9 (commencing with Section 12147) of Part 2 of Division 2 of, and to add Section 12148 to, the Public Contract Code, relating to the University of California.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 715, as amended, Galgiani. University of California retirement benefits. plans: asset managers: contracts.

The California Constitution establishes the University of California as a public trust with full powers of organization and government, subject only to specified limitations. Under this independent constitutional authority, the University of California established retirement systems to provide various retirement benefits to its members. Existing law prohibits the University of California from contracting for services unless a contractor certifies that the services will be performed solely by workers within the United States or if the contractor’s bid describes any work that will be performed by workers outside the United States.

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would regulate the transparency of the contracts between the University of California and the asset managers of the University of California’s defined contribution plan and defined benefit plan. prohibit the University of California from contracting for services with an asset manager for a defined contribution plan if that plan is a stand-alone optional plan that is not a complement to a defined benefit pension plan. The bill would apply this prohibition to a contract entered into on or after January 1, 2015.

BILL TEXT: THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. The heading of Chapter 3.9 (commencing with Section 12147) of Part 2 of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code is amended to read:
CHAPTER  3.9. University of California and California State University Contracts
SEC. 2. Section 12148 is added to the Public Contract Code, to read:
12148. (a) The University of California shall not enter into a contract for services with an asset manager for a defined contribution plan if that plan is a stand-alone optional plan that is not a complement to a defined benefit pension plan. This prohibition shall not apply to a defined contribution plan that is offered as a complement to a defined benefit pension plan.
(b) This section shall apply to a contract entered into on or after January 1, 2015.

Source: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB715&version=20190SB71598AMD

Some discussion of the bill is available at:
https://cucfa.org/2019/04/our-letter-in-support-of-sb-715/

Knowledge - Part 4

These parents could help expose UCLA, USC roles in college admissions scandal

Matthew Ormseth and Richard Winton, 4-18-19, LA Times
 
No one was looking at Bruce Isackson.

Seated in a Boston courtroom recently among a dozen other parents implicated in a scheme to defraud half a dozen top universities, Isackson — a real estate investor from Northern California — was overshadowed by his more famous co-defendants.

A few rows ahead of him sat actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, the designer J. Mossimo Giannulli. Across the aisle was another actress, Felicity Huffman, whose gaze did not once meet the pack of reporters who trailed her out of the courthouse, then to the car that waited to whisk her away.

But Isackson and his wife, Davina, could now play a central role in an investigation that has shaken American academia and forced a reckoning over the illegal and legal ways money offers access to higher education.

Of the 33 parents charged in the investigation, the Isacksons are the only ones to have signed cooperation deals with prosecutors.

A source familiar with the case said prosecutors want to learn more about who at UCLA and USC knew of an alleged recruiting scheme the Isacksons used to slip their two daughters into the universities as ersatz athletes. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because he or she was not authorized to comment publicly.

Prosecutors have said the colleges involved in the scheme are victims, not targets, of the growing criminal investigation. The 10 university coaches and officials charged so far in the investigation have been characterized as rogue actors, who flouted both the law and school policies in allegedly pocketing bribes to admit the children of wealthy and powerful families as recruited athletes.

But the Isacksons’ cooperation could provide prosecutors with another firsthand account of the recruiting scheme, and whether any other university officials or coaches were involved. What they say could also be of interest to USC and UCLA, which have launched internal investigations into what went wrong.

The Isacksons’ cooperation deal at this stage in the investigation is significant, said Patrick Cotter, a formal federal prosecutor who helped win the conviction of mob boss John Gotti in 1992.

The admissions scheme’s mastermind, a Newport Beach consultant named William “Rick” Singer, has already been apprehended and pleaded guilty. Prosecutors are likely seeking new leads on new targets, and it appears the Isacksons have convinced them they have that to offer, Cotter said.

“From what this couple have told the government, the government thinks they could have information that could lead to further arrests,” Cotter said. “The government seems to believe they’ve got legally admissible evidence, and that’s significant.”

In a filing last week, prosecutors said plainly what has been rumored for weeks: More people will be charged in the investigation.

The prosecutors asked a judge for a protective order on evidence they will begin turning over to defense attorneys, saying the wiretaps, bank and academic records, emails and surveillance photos they’ve amassed “include information concerning uncharged co-conspirators and targets of the investigation who have not yet been publicly charged.”

Prosecutors often pursue large-scale investigations in waves, hoping those charged in the first round will cooperate and yield evidence that can be used to charge a second, said Lawrence Rosenthal, a professor at Chapman’s Dale E. Fowler School of Law and a former federal prosecutor.

Bruce Isackson will plead guilty to fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. Davina Isackson has agreed to plead guilty to one count of fraud conspiracy. If prosecutors decide the couple provided useful information, they can recommend that a judge lighten their sentences.

In his plea agreement, prosecutors recommended a sentence for Bruce Isackson at the “low end” of sentencing guidelines that call for 37 to 46 months in prison. For Davina Isackson, they suggest a sentence at the low end of 27 to 33 months in prison.

In a statement last week, the couple said they were “profoundly sorry,” having “harmed and embarrassed” their children and disappointed their family and friends.

“We have worked cooperatively with the prosecutors,” they said, “and will continue to do so as we take full responsibility for our bad judgment.”

Their attorneys declined to comment for this story.

Among the 33 charged parents, the Isacksons are unique in that they allegedly took part in recruiting schemes that breached two universities.

The Isacksons are accused of paying Singer $600,000 to get one daughter into UCLA and another into USC, court records show. Of the $250,000 they spent to ensure their older daughter was admitted to UCLA as a recruited soccer player, $100,000 went to Jorge Salcedo, the former men’s soccer coach at UCLA, according to an indictment charging Salcedo and six other coaches and officials at universities with racketeering.

Salcedo, a former UCLA star who made the game-winning penalty kick in the 1990 national championship, resigned after being indicted. He has pleaded not guilty.

No other UCLA employee has been charged in the scheme. But prosecutors allege at least one coach on the UCLA women’s soccer team was forwarded an email with Lauren Isackson’s bogus credentials before she was approved by a student-athlete admissions committee in 2016.

The Isacksons’ younger daughter was admitted to USC as a recruited rower. She had never rowed competitively, prosecutors say. Two USC employees — Donna Heinel, a senior official in the university’s athletics department, and Jovan Vavic, the water polo coach — have been indicted on a racketeering charge. They have pleaded not guilty.

No one in USC’s rowing program has been charged. But Singer told a parent, on a call recorded by investigators and quoted in an FBI affidavit, that an unnamed “USC crew coach” told him, “You guys help us, we’ll help you.”

Cotter, the former federal prosecutor, said it appears prosecutors think the Isacksons have firsthand, credible information.

“The government is not going to make a deal and offer leniency if all a witness has to offer is third-hand hearsay,” Cotter said. “This isn’t hearsay; it’s not rumor. This is, ‘I met with him, he looked me in the face, and said this.’”

But the structure of Singer’s admitted scheme does not lend itself to tell-all cooperating witnesses, said Rosenthal, the Chapman law professor. Rather, he said, it resembles a “hub and spokes” conspiracy, in which everyone went through Singer and individual parents didn’t know one another, compared to a “wheel and spokes” scheme, in which everyone is connected.

Any one parent’s knowledge of the scheme could be limited. And in the Isacksons’ case, Rosenthal pointed out that prosecutors make no promises in the cooperation deal to tell a judge they deserve leniency.

“The government is not saying, ‘You’ve provided substantial assistance and for that, you should be rewarded,’” he said. “The government is saying, ‘We’re going to wait and see.’”

Some of the biggest spenders in Singer’s scheme remain unidentified. One parent paid Singer $6.5 million, U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said at a news conference last month. Another, identified only as the father of “Yale Applicant 1,” spent $1.2 million to ensure his daughter was admitted to Yale as a recruited soccer player.

Pressed by a judge about that father’s identity, Eric Rosen, Lelling’s lead prosecutor in the investigation, said: “There haven’t been charges publicly revealed about the family of Yale Applicant 1.”

Harvard-Westlake School has received subpoenas for records related to at least two students whose parents have not been charged, a person familiar with the matter said.

Under their cooperation agreement, the Isacksons agreed to testify if called by prosecutors. Their testimony could buttress the prosecution’s account and undercut an argument already being floated by some defense attorneys — that Singer, who has already admitted to obstructing justice, is the crumbling keystone of the government’s case.

Singer pleaded guilty last month to four felonies, including obstruction of justice. He began cooperating with authorities last year in a bid for leniency. At the instruction of the FBI and under the pretext of being audited, he called dozens of his clients and spoke with them about their alleged involvement in his scheme.

“The government wants to corroborate everything Singer tells the jury,” said Manny Medrano, a Los Angeles defense attorney and former federal prosecutor. “The defense is going to aggressively attack Singer’s credibility, so the prosecutors are going to use this couple to ensure he’s not the only one describing the scheme.”

Source: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-college-admissions-scandal-isackson-20190418-story.html

More Strike News

From the Sacramento Bee: The union representing 10,000 research and technical workers at the University of California on Wednesday denounced the UC’s decision to unilaterally impose a wage increase of 3 percent that will appear in their June checks.

UPTE-CWA 9119 leaders said in a news release that they are weighing their options, up to and including a strike. Members of the union have joined in four strikes over the past 12 months.

The union has been bargaining for new labor contracts with the UC for about two years, and contracts for all the employees it represents have expired. The union’s research and technical units reached an impasse in negotiations in mid-February, meaning that the UC could implement its own terms.

“Implementation is just another of UC’s tactics to bully and confuse workers into accepting an unfair offer, and it is not the product of good-faith negotiations by UC,” said UPTE-CWA President Jamie McDole. “These workers have been fighting for a fair contract for nearly two years in which UC has made next to no movement on our key demands, which address the crisis in recruitment and retention, and protect UC students, patients, and research.”

In a letter to UPTE-CWA members on Monday, Peter Chester, the executive director UC Systemwide Labor Relations, announced the terms.

“We believe negotiations with UPTE have taken much longer than they should, and it has been too long since you have received a raise,” Chester said “At some point, UC and UPTE will need to return to the bargaining table in order to negotiate any additional increases as part of a multi-year contract.”

...UPTE-CWA 9119 rejected the UC’s last contract offer, the terms of which included:

▪ Annual wage increases of 3 percent from 2020 to 2023, plus raises of 3 percent in April and October of this year. In a sign of just how rancorous negotiations are, the two sides disagreed over the contract period. UPTE-CWA spokesperson Dan Russell said UC’s offer extends through only September 2022.

▪ A one-time payment of $1,250 upon contract ratification.

▪ A $25 cap on monthly health insurance premiums for the UC’s Kaiser and Health Net Blue and Gold plans...

Full story at https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and-medicine/article229395804.html

A Look Back

While everyone else is working through the Mueller report this morning, we provide an alternative. Those readers with an historical bent will know about the loyalty oath controversy at UC going back to the 1940s and 1950s. The controversy at UC was actually a small part of a larger anti-communist campaign going back much further and encompassing many aspects of California life. A central figure was legislator Jack Tenney who, with another legislator (and eventually mayor of LA) Sam Yorty, started out on the political left, but became the center of the campaign. Yorty later abandoned Tenney and went on with his own career.

In any event, CALmatters today provides three links to an online exhibit of documents related to Tenney, loyalty oaths, etc.

Part 1:
https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/EAJSoEpg0J-BJw

Part 2:
https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/twJi_v0TQ8_4KQ

Part 3:  [Source of the image shown above.]
https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/mQICZO9g1jB8KA

Graduation speaker boycott urged

The University of California’s largest employee union is calling for a boycott of school speaking engagements, according to AFSCME Local 3299. The union represents more than 24,000 employees at the University of California's 10 campuses, five medical centers, various clinics, research laboratories and UC Hastings College of the Law.

The union is seeking the boycott as the university has started naming guest speakers ahead of spring graduation ceremonies. Scheduled guest speakers include former U.S. first lady Michelle Obama, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, California first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom and California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis.

The call for a boycott comes after a strike by service and patient care workers that began April 10. In an unfair labor practice charge, members of AFSCME Local 3299 accuse the university of workplace retaliation, threats of police citation and other actions that interfere with their rights...

Full story at https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/human-capital-and-risk/after-strike-u-of-california-workers-urge-guest-speakers-to-boycott-school-events.html

More Elsevier

Via email to faculty from UCLA University Librarian Virginia ("Ginny") Steel:

As you know, negotiations on a new journal contract between the UC system and the academic publishing company Elsevier ended unsuccessfully at the end of February. Elsevier has not yet cut off access to its journals; however, it's possible that that could happen without notice at any time. In that case, we're prepared with alternative access methods so that UCLA faculty, staff, and students can obtain the journal articles they need for teaching and research. Please note that these negotiations covered journals only; they did not involve reference and patient care resources or non-journal research tools, which are on separate contracts.

There is reason to remain confident that we will return to the negotiating table at some point, when Elsevier gives an indication that there is an opportunity for significant progress on the key issues of cost control and open access to UC-authored scholarship. That is in large part because of UC's recent success in reaching agreements on large, multi-year journal packages with other prestigious academic publishers, among which are Cambridge University Press, Karger, Royal Society of Chemistry, Taylor and Francis, and Wiley-Blackwell. These agreements include the ability to do text and data mining, open-access phase-in terms, and discounts on article publishing charges. In all negotiations concluded successfully in 2018, the UC system achieved more than $350,000 in cost reductions.

Thank you for your patience and support throughout this process. We are determined to steer toward an academic publishing system that supports your research and teaching, makes UC publications openly available in alignment with the UC open access policies, and manages costs so that the UCLA Library can continue to build and provide access to one of the world's best research collections.

Your participation is essential to this process, and I look forward to hearing from you by phone at 310.825.1201 or email: vsteel@library.ucla.edu

Source: https://t.e2ma.net/message/m37zul/a61ry

Accident Last Night

From the Patch newspapers:

A student suffered minor lacerations Tuesday evening as a result of a chemical reaction in a laboratory at a science building* at UCLA. Firefighters responded about 9:10 p.m. to the location, according to Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department. The student walked outside and was rinsed off by rescuers and found to be in good condition before she was taken to a hospital, Humphrey said. There was no spill and no need for formal evacuations, according to Humphrey.

Source: https://patch.com/california/centurycity/student-hospitalized-chemical-reaction-ucla-lab

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*The Bruin identifies it as the Molecular Sciences Building. See:
http://dailybruin.com/2019/04/17/chemical-explosion-occurs-in-lab-in-molecular-sciences-building/