The California State Teachers’ Retirement System ("CalSTRS"), formed two Delaware limited liability companies for the purpose of purchasing and holding title to two investment properties in Alameda County, California. ...more
Welcome to Goodwin's Debt Download, our monthly newsletter covering what you need to know in the leveraged finance market. We hope you’re staying warm during the winter doldrums....more
On December 12, 2019, the California Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District handed down a unanimous decision in Luke v. County of Sonoma, Sonoma County Employees’ Retirement Association, et al., affirming the...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), which oversees Employee Retirement Income Security Act-covered (ERISA) employee benefit plans, recently released new regulatory guidance "clarifying" that "fiduciaries may not sacrifice...more
In March, I wrote about AB 2571 which would have prohibited public pension fund investments in alternative investment vehicles that lacked race and gender pay equity policies. Yesterday, the bill was amended to require...more
More than six decades ago, the late Professor Marver H. Bernstein published his theory of regulatory capture in Regulating Business By Independent Commission (Greenwood Press 1955). According to his theory, agencies follow a...more
Late last month, California’s Insurance Commissioner announced that he had “asked all insurance companies doing business in California to voluntarily divest from their investments in thermal coal”. Thermal coal, also known...more
Proxy Access - 2015 was a turning point for shareholder proposals seeking to implement proxy access, which gives certain shareholders the ability to nominate directors and include those nominees in a company’s proxy...more
Companies are paying increased attention to the potential for director “overboarding,” according to the WSJ. Many companies have adopted restrictions on the number of outside seats that directors may hold, often in response...more
In this post, I noted a recent study by Professor Tracie Woidtke at the University of Tennessee concluding that social-issue shareholder-proposal activism appears to be negatively related to firm value. I therefore raised...more
Yesterday, I wrote about SB 185 (De León) which mandates that California’s two giant pension funds to liquidate their investments in thermal coal companies on or before July 1, 2017. One aspect of the bill that I didn’t...more
Public pension funds exist to provide retirement benefits to public employees. Cal. Const. Art. XVI, § 17(a). In 1992, the voters of California tried to eliminate political interference with the state’s retirement funds by...more
Yesterday, UCLA Law School Professor Stephen Bainbridge noted the publication of a recent study that reaches some devastating conclusions for public pension funds. The study by Professor Tracie Woidtke at the University of...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission has given notice of its intent to adopt final pay ratio disclosure rules at its meeting next week. In applauding the SEC’s proposed rules, the California Public Employees’ Retirement...more
In 1999, the legislature enacted SB 105 (Burton) which obligates CalPERS and CalSTRS to support, whenever feasible, shareholder resolutions at domestic and international corporations in which those funds have invested that...more