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NCPERS Press Release
January 16th, 2014
At 1pm, EST today, The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government will hold a presentation at The National Press Club in Washington, DC on the crisis of underfunding of public- sector defined benefit plans.
NCPERS Discussion Forums now open!
We're happy to announce the launch of the NCPERS Discussion Forums, a community where NCPERS members can post questions, share experiences, and discuss issues among colleagues.
Registration for the 2014 Annual Conference & Exhibition is now open! Whether you are new or experienced in the pension industry, the NCPERS Annual Conference & Exhibition offers valuable education designed to meet your professional needs. Ranging in complexity from basic to advanced, our educational sessions provide the information you need to make critical decisions for your pension fund.
NCPERS 2014 Winter PERSist is now Available!
Inside this issue you will find articles on expanding the fixed income opportunity set for public pension plans, trouble municipal pensions and much more!
State pension obligations can be crushing. But corporate welfare costs more. When Louise Jordan walked through the doors of Abraham Lincoln High School in North Philadelphia 34 years ago, after landing her dream job as a special education teacher right out of college, she didn't worry about her tiny salary -- just $10,770 per year back then. It wasn't a lot to live on, but if she kept contributing 7.5 percent of every paycheck into Pennsylvania's pension fund, the state would support her when the time came to retire.
Moodys: State pension burdens may have peaked More than a quarter of U.S. states had public pension liabilities that were greater than their total revenues in fiscal 2012, Moody's Investors Service said in a report on Thursday that also indicated the struggle to pay for public employee retirement had peaked.
Teachers union president vows to fight cuts to pensions The head of the Chicago Teachers Union on Friday said she will not accept cuts to retired teachers' benefits as a way to ease the district's pension crisis; though she did detail some ideas for easing a funding shortfall of at least $8 billion.
Report claims La. spends five times more on corporate subsidies, tax loopholes than on pensions LED Secretary Stephen Moret says a new report from research group Good Jobs First, which says Louisiana "gives away about $1.8 billion a year to corporations through corporate subsidies and tax loopholes-totaling about five times the annual pension cost for state workers"-is not entirely accurate.
Detroit Bankruptcy Exit Plan Threatens Munis as Pensions Favored Detroit's proposal to restructure its $18 billion of debt by paying pensioners at more than twice the rate of some municipal bondholders threatens to increase borrowing costs for localities throughout Michigan.
OMERS Private Equity Completes Sale of Maxxam Analytics International Corporation OMERS Private Equity ("OPE"), the private equity investment arm of OMERS, has completed the previously announced sale of Maxxam Analytics International Corporation (together with its affiliates, "Maxxam" or the "Company") to France-based public company Bureau Veritas SA ("Bureau Veritas") for an enterprise value of CAD$650 million.
Opinion
Opinion: What's in a Word? When It Comes to Chuck Reed's Pension Reform, Plenty San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed announced last week that he planned to file a lawsuit against California Attorney General Kamala Harris over the title and summary for his proposed measure to enable elected officials to reduce the retirement benefits of teachers, firefighters, police officers, school bus drivers and other public employees
In this week's video blog, Executive Director Hank Kim discusses the recent investigative reporting by David Sirota exposing PBS' partnership with the Laura and John Arnold Foundation and PBS' 'Pension Peril' series. You can read Sirota's full report here.
Buffett warns of rough road ahead for public pension funds Billionaire Warren Buffett has a warning for investors in his 2014 annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders released Saturday: During the next decade, there will be a lot of bad news about public pension funds.
Class actions at risk in Supreme Court challenge Institutional investors are holding their collective breath as the Supreme Court considers making it harder to bring class-action securities lawsuits. (Subscription Required)
First PBS, now Brookings: Has another institution sold its soul?
The assiduous billionaire-tracker David Sirota, who last exposed the connections between billionaire John Arnold and a suspiciously one-sided series on public pension reform that ran on Public Broadcasting Service stations, is at it again.
Pressure building on Pew to cut ties with foundation Public pension fund groups are pressuring the Pew Charitable Trusts to stop taking money from a foundation to finance Pew's Public Sector Retirement Systems Project. (Subscription Required)
State News
Pension reform: Settlement talks brewing in landmark San Jose case After years of intense fighting, the city and its employee unions are discussing a settlement of at least parts of a pension battle that has divided San Jose over key issues ranging from taxpayer costs to police staffing.
Back in December, Pando reported on how Michigan and Detroit officials were simultaneously pleading poverty to justify cuts to municipal workers' average $19,000-a-year pensions all while promising to keep spending taxpayer cash on a new professional hockey stadium.
Detroit reaches settlement over controversial debt deal
The city of Detroit revealed a proposed settlement with two banks late Monday to pay off a controversial debt deal called swaps, which helped plunge Detroit into bankruptcy.
North Carolina state workers are paying a lot higher fees to Wall Street to manage their pension assets these days according to fiscal year 2013 data provided to me by State Treasurer Janet Cowell.
On tap this week, Republican Ken Block's plan to rescue the Rhode Island economy, and the outlook for the settlement aimed at ending the lawsuit over the state pension system.
Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund, the world's largest pool of retirement savings, will invest as much as $2.7 billion in infrastructure over the next five years.
Opinions
Pension History Lesson As Black History Month comes to a close, we are reminded that many of the social and economic justice struggles that persist today began over a century ago.
Robert Wilson & the 2014 Annual Conference
Robert Wilson, with the Missouri Local Government Employees Retirement System, discusses his presentation on Re-framing the Debate: Communicating the Real Value of Public Service at the 2014 Annual Conference & Exhibition in Chicago, IL. You can hear him speak on Wednesday, April 30th at 9:30am
The aggregate funding ratio of the 100 largest publicly traded corporate pension plans grew to 89% from 77% in 2013, according to a report from Towers Watson. (Subscription Required)
Why employee pensions aren't bankrupting states
From state legislatures to Congress to tea party rallies, a vocal backlash is rising against what are perceived as too-generous retirement benefits for state and local government workers. However, that widespread perception doesn't match reality.
Jacksonville's Retirement Reform Task Force presented their final recommendations for solving the city's pension troubles to top officials yesterday, but a consensus among those officials is unlikely.
Why Foundations of Iowa, Many State Pension Systems are Strong
The broom of the system
BRUCE RAUNER, a wealthy venture capitalist, won the Republican gubernatorial primary in Illinois last week.
Pension benefits increase passes first legislative hurdle
Public pensioners in Louisiana are on the road to receive their first benefits increase in more than five years under legislation approved by the Senate Retirement Committee on Monday (March 24).
Snyder, Orr strike upbeat note about Detroit at NYC policy forum
Gov. Rick Snyder and Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr offered an upbeat assessment of Detroit's future during a policy forum Monday in New York City, saying bankruptcy offers a chance for the struggling city to reinvent itself.
Governor's fiscal maneuver helps plug current budget gap, but putting $900 million less into pensions over next four years will make unfunded liability worse
A stable and durable public pension system, efficiently managed and funded, is important to employees, employers, the state, and the economy. In Iowa and most states, public-sector pension systems remain strong and healthy.
AFT Report Ranking Asset Managers
Report mentioned by Dan Pedrotty, American Federation of Teachers "Preserving Retirement Security and Holding Wall Street Accountable"
David Sirota: Wall Street's Secret Swindle of Public Pensions In the national debate over what to do about public pension shortfalls, here's something you may not know: The texts of the agreements signed between those pension funds and financial firms are almost always secret.
Koch Brothers, Major Corporations Sponsor Pension Reform Seminar For Judges As state courts across the nation prepare to referee numerous public pension reform disputes, a gaggle of interested parties - from major corporations to the Koch brothers - will next week sponsor an expenses-paid conference on public pension reform for judges who may decide the cases' fates.
Urban Institute Report: Retirement & Older Americans Our extensive work on retirement policy covers the many ways the aging of America will trigger changes in how we work, retire, and spend federal resources.
State News
Voters will decide the fate of city pension system Phoenix voters will decide the fate of the city's ailing employee-pension system this fall after a group of political activists succeeded Friday in getting a reform initiative certified to the ballot.
Quinn floats new source for city pensions: Income tax Gov. Pat Quinn today dangled a possible replacement to Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan to raise property taxes to restructure two Chicago pension funds: give the city a bigger cut of state income taxes.
Report: Kentucky pension reforms benefit workersAn analysis by a Washington D.C.-based think tank says that a majority of government workers will fare as well - or better - under Kentucky's recent pension reforms.
Opinions
The Real Retirement Crisis America has a retirement crisis, but it's not what some people want you to believe it is.
Pension obligations need to be a priority Massachusetts's public employee pensions are a growing burden on the state, even though it has gradually decreased its share of pension contributions, forcing employees to increase theirs.
The long game on pension reformTHE ECONOMICS of public-sector pension reform are straightforward enough. Funds that states and municipalities must devote to employees' retirement benefits are funds that they cannot spend on parks, libraries, transportation, public safety and other services.
We applaud guest columnist Peter Fisher's "Strengthen, don't break, Iowa's public pension plans" (March 18). Fisher understands what previous guest columnist Deborah Thornton clearly does not:
Jill Eicher & the 2014 Annual Conference
Jill Eicher from Fiduciary Infrastructure Initiative will discuss 'A New Course for Infrastructure Investments? An Introduction to the Fiduciary Infrastructure Initiative (FII)' at the 2014 NCPERS Annual Conference & Exhibition on Tuesday, April 29th at 8am.
Both men and women are facing a retirement crisis, but it disproportionately affects women, according to the Pension Rights Center.
What retirement train wreck?
News about retirement sin//ce the financial crisis has been decidedly negative. Workers aren't saving enough. Pensions are underfunded. Long-term investment strategies to make up the difference are far from obvious.
(Louisiana) Legislation advanced Monday that would provide more than 100,000 retired state employees, teachers, school employees and State Police with a 1.5 percent increase in their pension checks.
Some of Detroit's retirees and bondholders would fare a little worse under a revised plan the city filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Monday to deal with its $18 billion of debt and other obligations.
(Audio) New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says ballooning pension costs are creating a "looming crisis." In 2011, Christie teamed up with legislators to pass a pension overhaul but it hasn't fixed the problem.
(John Arnold) In recent months, I have endured a number of intensely personal public attacks on my philanthropy-including lies (that I hid a donation to PBS when the writer found the information on our website), selective reporting (listing political contributions to Republicans as evidence that I aspire to be a "Koch brother," without noting that I am a Democrat and hosted a fundraiser for President Obama), and juvenile insults (that I have a "jug-eared face of a Division III women's basketball coach").
There's a Big Difference Between Union Money and Koch Money
For dozens of readers, our editorial this morning on the Democratic criticism of the Koch brothers left out something crucial: the big financial muscle of unions in backing liberal politcians.
Now that a pension-modification measure proposed by San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed will not appear on the November statewide ballot and a court ruling has blocked San Jose from slashing employees' vested pension rights, opponents of public pensions are falling back on their old, false argument.
