In surprising news for the California county retirement system community, on April 17, 2024, the California Supreme Court granted review of Ventura County Employees’ Retirement Ass’n v. Criminal Justice Attorney’s Ass’n of...more
On March 27, 2024, after nearly a decade of dispute and five years of litigation, the First District Court of Appeal unanimously rejected all claims that a participating employer brought against the Alameda County Employees’...more
In its recent opinions in Linke v. Freed and O’Connor-Ratcliff v. Garnier, the U.S. Supreme Court considered if and when public officials violate the First Amendment rights of members of the public by blocking them from the...more
3/25/2024
/ California ,
Censorship ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Government Officials ,
Lindke v Freed ,
O’Connor-Ratcliff v Garnier ,
Online Commentary ,
SCOTUS ,
Social Media
UPDATE: On January 18, 2024, the Second DCA responded to requests for publication of its decision discussed in our last eAlert on this topic (below) and certified the decision for publication. This is an important next step...more
On January 4, 2024, the Second District Court of Appeal, Division 6, unanimously rejected the first lawsuit challenging a county retirement board’s implementation of the California Supreme Court’s Alameda decision (VCERA v....more
With recent well-publicized data breaches impacting pension systems and their retirees nationally, as well as increased Department of Labor scrutiny surrounding cybersecurity policies and procedures implemented by ERISA...more
10/6/2023
/ 401k ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Security ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Pensions ,
Plan Administrators ,
Popular
The constitutionality of California’s felony forfeiture statute, as applied by the Board of Administration of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), survived yet another challenge in September 2023,...more
On September 21, 2023, a federal judge in Texas granted summary judgment in, and thus dismissed, a lawsuit filed by the Attorneys General of 25 states and other interested parties challenging a final rule issued by the U.S....more
9/26/2023
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Fiduciary ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Pensions ,
Retirement Plan
On August 23, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 3-2 to approve 660 pages of new rules and amendments modifying the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (Advisers Act). The new rules represent some of...more
Congress recently passed the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022. Building on the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019, SECURE 2.0 attempts to expand retirement plan coverage and increase retirement savings...more
On February 15, 2023, changes to Actuarial Standard of Practice (ASOP) No. 4 will be effective, and defined benefit plans will need to comply with these new rules in all actuarial funding valuations with measurement dates...more
On January 30, 2023, the Fourth District Court of Appeal clarified which sorts of retirement benefit payments do and do not count as a “disability allowance” within the context of the reciprocity rules of the County Employees...more
With Governor Newsom’s announcement that the COVID-19 State of Emergency will be lifted in California effective February 28, 2023, many local public agencies are considering their next steps for returning to their boardrooms...more
After years of recriminations and acrimony between members of the Board of Trustees for the Houston Community College System (“System”), the Board censured one of its members for “reprehensible” conduct–including speech–“not...more
On November 8, 2021, a decade-plus court battle concerning whether a public pension system and its board of retirement violated their fiduciary duties when making certain actuarial and reserving decisions following the Great...more
Ransomware and other cybersecurity attacks have made national headlines during the past 12 months, and public pension systems are as susceptible to these attacks as any other organization. In this episode of Public Pensions &...more
10/21/2021
/ Best Practices ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Data Transfers ,
Information Technology ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Pensions ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Public Pension ,
Ransomware
On September 16, 2021, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 361 (2021-2022) (“AB 361”), which incorporated into California state law some aspects of the teleconferencing rules that have applied by Executive Order to local...more
All public pension plans need a well-crafted fiduciary liability insurance policy. This should include ample coverage, including protection against the risk of impending litigation. The recent ruling by the U.S. Court of...more
7/9/2021
/ Breach of Contract ,
Declaratory Relief ,
Denial of Insurance Coverage ,
Duty to Defend ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Liability Insurance ,
Insurance Claims ,
Insurance Industry ,
Insurance Litigation ,
Pensions ,
Policy Exclusions ,
Public Pension ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Plan
On February 5, 2021, a second court of appeal in California upheld the constitutionality of the felony forfeiture statute enacted as part of the Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA) in Wilmot v. Contra Costa...more
As the public pension community in California is well aware, on July 30, 2020, the California Supreme Court issued its landmark decision on vested rights and the constitutionality of legislative changes to public retirement...more
On November 24, 2020, the California Supreme Court denied two requests for depublication of the First Appellate District’s decision Marin Assn. of Public Employees v. Marin County Employees’ Retirement Assn. (2016) 2...more
On September 23, 2020, the California Supreme Court issued orders in each of the four cases it had accepted for review but deferred pending its resolution of Alameda County Deputy Sheriff's Association, et al. v. Alameda...more
9/28/2020
/ CA Supreme Court ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Contracts Clause ,
Estoppel ,
Felons ,
Forfeiture ,
Forfeiture Statutes ,
Pensions ,
Public Employees ,
Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA) ,
Retirement Plan ,
State Constitutions
In a landmark decision of a unanimous court, on July 30, 2020, the California Supreme Court issued its second case in two years on the scope of the “California Rule,” Alameda County Deputy Sheriff’s Assoc. et al., v. Alameda...more
8/4/2020
/ CA Supreme Court ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Deferred Compensation ,
Employee Benefits ,
Equitable Estoppel ,
Pensions ,
Public Employees ,
Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA) ,
Public Pension ,
Retirement Plan ,
Settlement Agreements ,
State Constitutions
The United States Supreme Court recently reviewed the federal constitutional standing requirements for members of a private defined-benefit pension plan who alleged that the plan trustees violated their fiduciary duties. ...more
6/11/2020
/ Article III ,
Breach of Duty ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Duty of Prudence ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Investment Adviser ,
Mismanagement ,
Pensions ,
Plan Participants ,
Retirement Plan ,
SCOTUS ,
Standing ,
Thole v U.S. Bank
Please join our Public Pensions & Investments Group for our webinar, "Legal Consequences of Shelter-in-Place Orders and Beyond for Public Pensions Systems," on May 7, 2020.
As COVID-19 continues to transform the private...more
4/28/2020
/ Construction Industry ,
Continuing Legal Education ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Investment Management ,
Investors ,
Private Funds ,
Public Pension ,
Real Estate Investments ,
Remote Working ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Funds ,
Retirement Plan ,
Trustees ,
Webinars