pension reform

San Francisco pension costs rising

By: Joshua Sabatini 03/26/13 9:54 PM

The City’s pension costs will increase by tens of millions of dollars next fiscal year to offset investment losses. That doesn’t come as a surprise to Mayor Ed Lee, said spokesman Francis Tsang, adding that increased pension costs also are expected in the subsequent year. Read More

City should trim employee health care costs to reduce deficit

By: SF Examiner Editorial 12/12/12 7:04 PM

The budget outlook for the city and county of San Francisco is vastly improved compared to previous years. But serious systemic budget problems still need to be addressed. In many ways, San Francisco and California are in the same boat when it comes to budget forecasting. State lawmakers started this fiscal year with a balanced budget, which was based on voters approving tax increases. Read More

Adachi defeated but not planning third SF pension effort

By: Joshua Sabatini 11/09/11 8:02 PM

Public Defender Jeff Adachi is known as the guy who made City Hall take pension reform seriously. His initial effort last year, Proposition B, was defeated after labor leaders led a well-funded campaign against it while promising to draft a better solution for the November ballot. Read More

Accounting rules hurt public pension reform

By: Rich Danker 11/09/11 1:01 AM

America’s public employee pension crisis is so dire that leaders of the worst-case states feel they must present reforms even if it runs counter to the interests of their union bases. Faced with that pressure, for example, Gov. Jerry Brown recently offered changes for California’s broken system centered on extending the retirement age and removing the state’s guarantee of some pension compensation. Read More

Gov. Brown’s decent pension plan is a long shot

By: Dan Walters 11/06/11 4:00 AM

Despite some encouraging details in Gov. Jerry Brown’s recently announced pension-reform proposal, there’s virtually no chance the state will seriously reform — or even seriously attempt to reform — a system creaking under the weight of about $500 billion in unfunded liabilities. Read More

Pension reform: Which campaign gets to claim grassroots support?

By: Melissa Griffin 10/19/11 11:30 AM

Columnists have different approaches to the Comments Section. Personally, I like to read them and take the thoughtful messages seriously. And that’s why I’m dedicating this blog entry to a commenter on my article yesterday about the campaign to defeat Proposition D and its unfounded accusation that the two main backers of D are “tea party billionaires.” Read More

Pension-reform backers in San Francisco are not GOP heroes

By: Melissa Griffin 10/18/11 4:00 AM

In the commercial, an ominous, floating picture of Sarah Palin fills the screen while a woman’s voice urgently says, “The same tea party billionaires who funded [attacks on public unions in Ohio and Wisconsin] are funding Prop. D in San Francisco.” Wait, what? Read More

Hypocritical pension funds lecture others

By: Steven Greenhut 10/09/11 4:00 AM

The nation’s two largest pension funds, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, have been plagued by myriad fiscal problems, and even a corruption scandal in the case of CalPERS, and yet these systems continue to lecture the private sector on ethical corporate governance. The latest hypocrisy, released last week, is a project funded by the two systems to promote “diversity” in board rooms. Read More

Ethics Commission now says Jeff Adachi can use name, image to promote pension measure

By: Joshua Sabatini 08/26/11 2:44 PM

Public Defender Jeff Adachi will be allowed to use his name and image on election materials promoting his Proposition D pension measure after all. Within 24 hours, the Ethics Commission reversed its decision on the rules, after saying Adachi is prohibited from using his image and name on the pension measure materials because he was also running for mayor. Read More

Pension reform ads will not feature Jeff Adachi's name or photo

By: Joshua Sabatini 08/25/11 10:50 PM

UPDATE: The Ethics Commission has reversed its stance and now says Adachi can use his name and image to promote his pension-reform measure on the ballot. Public Defender Jeff Adachi cannot use his name or photo on any election materials supporting his pension-reform ballot measure because he’s also running for mayor, the Ethics Commission said Thursday. Read More