Two days after announcing its plan to unveil a public database containing pension information for all retirees in its system, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System chose to delay the creation of the database. [Sacramento Bee]
CalPERS said Wednesday that it halted the unveiling of the database due to a threat by a retiree group to pursue legislation that would limit the amount of information the retirement system could release under the California Public Records Act.
“In accordance with our desire to protect privacy and data of our members and only release that information which is legally required, CalPERS has decided to wait to see the outcome of this legislative effort and not release our planned pension database,” said CalPERS spokesman Brad Pacheco.
Currently, pension information considered public includes retirees’ names, monthly pension payment, base allowance, cost of living adjustment, final compensation, last employer and pension benefit formula.
CalPERS said it planned to unveil the pension database as a move to become more transparent.
Last month, the California legislature considered weakening the Public Records Act as a cost-cutting measure in the current fiscal year’s budget. But, the legislature reversed its course just prior to Governor Jerry Brown signing the budget.
