The Funding Status of Independent Public Employee Pension Systems in California

In April, SIEPR issued Going for Broke: Reforming California’s Public Employee Pension Systems. That policy brief identified the funding shortfall for three state pension systems: California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), and the University of California Retirement System (UCRS). Using a risk-free discount rate for future liabilities, the report concluded that these three systems in June 2008 (i.e., prior to the onset of the financial crisis) were underfunded by $425 billion, equivalent to about five state general fund budgets. The study also identified policies that could prevent future shortfalls.