CSAC Board of Directors Adopts Revised Pension Reform Principles

Recognizing that the long-term sustainability of public pensions, the need to balance the legitimate desires and needs of employees against the publics’ right to a fair and accountable government, and the need for counties to recruit and retain quality employees, the CSAC Board of Directors yesterday adopted revised CSAC Guiding Principles on Pension Reform that portray CSAC’s recognition of a need for statewide reform to ensure that public retirement systems are sound and fiscally responsible

The principles, which can be viewed here, include:

• A focus on ensuring sustainability by highlighting the need for more equitable sharing of costs and risks between employee and employer, the need to remove barriers to negotiating cost sharing agreements, and the need for accountability across pension systems.
• Adding a section to bring attention to the challenges counties face in recruiting and retaining the best employees and the interaction with pension benefits as part of a total compensation package.

Retirement Benefits

AB 1519 (Wieckowski) – Pending
As introduced on January 17, 2012

Assembly Bill 1519, by Assembly Member Bob Wieckowski, would require that 1937 Act county retirement boards adopt a policy requiring board members to receive a minimum of 24 hours of “board member education” for every two-year period they serve on the board. The policy must:

• Identify topics for board member education such as:
• Fiduciary responsibilities
• Ethics
• Pension fund investments and investment program management.
• Actuarial matters.
• Pension funding.
• Benefits administration
• Pension fund governance.
• Establish a means for determining the programs, training, and educational sessions that qualify as board member education, such as educational seminars sponsored by the state or national public pension fund organizations, and seminars sponsored by accredited academic institutions.
• Require each board to maintain a record of board member compliance with the policy. The policy and an annual report on board member compliance must be posted on the retirement board’s website.

AB 1519 is awaiting a hearing date in the Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee.

Collective Bargaining

AB 1606 (Perea) – Watch
As Introduced on February 7, 2012

Assembly Bill 1606, by Assembly Member Henry Perea, would authorize an employee organization, in the instance that impasse has been declared in collective bargaining negotiations, to request that the parties’ difference be submitted to a factfinding panel within 30 days of impasse being reached if the matter was not submitted to mediation.

The bill’s sponsor, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, is referring to AB 1606 as a cleanup measure to last year’s AB 646 (Chapter 680, Statutes of 2011). The bill codifies an emergency regulation passed by the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) in December that provides a timeline for an employee organization to request factfinding in the case of impasse, regardless of whether the matter was submitted to mediation. Those regulations can be viewed here. 

AB 1606 is awaiting a hearing date in the Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee.