February 9, 2017

The California Building Standards Commission (Commission) recently approved emergency regulations in response to the 2016 balcony collapse in Berkeley, California. The regulations take effect immediately and seek to prevent future failures of balconies and similar structures such as exterior stairs and walkways.

January 19, 2017

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) Actuarial Office has released a circular letter to contracting employers that describes how recent changes to the fund’s discount rate will affect those agencies and member contributions.

December 22, 2016

In an overall effort to strengthen the long-term sustainability of what is the largest public employees retirement system in the country, the CalPERS Board of Administration approved a recommendation to gradually lower the “discount rate” during its December 21 meeting. Counties will recall that the discount rate is the percentage of expected returns on investments made by CalPERS. A lower discount rate means that employers, including counties, will be contributing more to the retirement fund over the next three years.  

December 15, 2016

The Finance and Administration Committee of the California Public Employee’s Retirement System (CalPERS) will be hosting a workshop on the discount rate during its open session meeting next Tuesday, December 20. The workshop will build upon previous discussions about securing CalPERS’ future – managing funding risk, stakeholder outreach and engagement. This includes the impact to the funded status, normal costs, and unfunded accrued liabilities if the Board of Administration (Board) elects to lower the assumed rate of return.

November 17, 2016

The Finance and Administration Committee of the California Public Employee’s Retirement System (CalPERS) met Tuesday to discuss the current discount rate and the potential for lowering it within the next 12 months. The outcome of the hearing? Staff will bring a recommendation to the December meeting. This could have significant impacts for counties that contract with CalPERS for retirement benefits.

October 20, 2016

October 6, 2016

September 22, 2016

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s (CalPERS) Finance and Administration Committee met this week and heard an annual review of the system’s funding levels and risk report that included news of higher contribution rates for contracting employers and the conclusion that the risk that plans will continue to fall to low funding levels remains high.

September 15, 2016

Local agencies will soon need to comply with new requirements for posting their Board of Supervisor meetings agendas online. Governor Brown recently signed AB 2257 (Maienschein), which requires agendas for the legislative bodies of local governments to be accessible on the homepage on the local agency’s primary website through a “prominent, direct link.”

A recent court ruling could be signaling a major shift in retirement and pension policy in California. The “California Rule,” the idea that pension benefits are completely protected and can never be changed or adjusted, may not be as strict as once thought. The rule stems from a series of court rulings and has significantly impacted many budget and policy discussions in recent years.

August 18, 2016

August 4, 2016

July 21, 2016

Following news in January that current Chief Executive Officer Anne Stausboll would retire on June 30, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) has announced the hiring of her replacement, Marcie Frost, who will assume the position on October 3.

June 30, 2016

Public agencies must begin posting catalogs of their enterprise systems on their websites by Friday, July 1 to comply with the requirements of Senate Bill 272 (Chapter No. 795, Statutes of 2015).

SB 272 defined “enterprise system” as a software application or computer system that collects, stores, exchanges and analyzes information that the agency uses that is both:

June 28, 2016

The U.S. Department of Labor recently finalized a new rule on overtime pay that could significantly impact county payrolls. CSAC weighed in with concerns about this new rule, which increases the salary threshold to $47,476 per year, increases the compensation level for highly compensated employees to $134,004 per year, and creates automatic annual adjustments for the salary thresholds.

June 23, 2016

June 16,2016

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) Board of Administration on Wednesday adopted its 2017 health care plan rates – the first-year result of CalPERS’ multi-year revision of its rate development process.

June 9, 2016

AB 1940 (Cooper) would require law enforcement agencies to develop a policy for using body-worn cameras; the policy would have to allow peace officers to review his or her body-worn camera recordings before making a report, giving an internal affairs statement, or before any criminal or civil proceeding. The bill contains many other specifications and requirements related to body-worn camera recordings.

June 2, 2016

Legislation that would allow counties the option of providing an entirely electronic process for requesting one’s own vital records has made it to the Senate after a unanimous “Aye” vote from the California State Assembly.

May 20, 2016

May 20, 2016

The Government Finance and Administration (GFA) Committee on Thursday voted to oppose the “No Blank Checks” Revenue Bond Approval, a proposed constitutional initiative that has qualified to appear on the 2016 November ballot.

April 15, 2016

CSAC is opposing three bills that are all coming up in committees on Wednesday, April 20. CSAC will keep counties apprised of any developments.

AB 1643 Would Remove the Science in Workers’ Compensation Apportionment