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Overview:

The State Treasurer’s office is, in essence, the state’s banker. It is responsible for the state’s investment and finance, with goals of minimizing interest and service costs while maximizing yields on investment. The office is responsible for all the money held in trust by the state. It also handles the administration of state bond sales, redemptions and interest payments. The state treasurer is elected every four years and may serve two terms.

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History:

California’s first state treasurer, Richard Roman, was voted into office by the Legislature in December 1849, in San Jose—then the state capital. The duties of Roman’s office, spelled out in the state’s first constitution, were to collect taxes and guard the state’s money. He helped do that by purchasing the state’s first safe, for $1,130; the balance in the state treasury was $9,900. In those days, the state’s funds were exclusively gold and silver. Through the early 1900’s, those duties remained the same, though bonds and securities made up much of the state’s funds.

By the 1920s, California Bank Acts had expanded the treasurer’s role, allowing the state’s funds to be deposited in commercial banks. During the Depression, however, the state’s money was withdrawn from private banks and placed in a vault at the treasurer’s office once again. The vault was divided into two sections by a 7-foot-tall metal grill. One side of the vault housed an officer in charge of daily sales and the receipt of bonds and securities, and the other side held desks for the vault officers who delivered and received authorized bonds, and who oversaw security for the vault itself. This two-sided vault was used until 1975.

Further California Bank Acts allowed the investment of state funds, with oversight by the treasurer. In 1949, the Legislature created the Centralized Treasury System and required all state agencies to deposit their money with the treasurer. The treasurer thus became an asset manager as well, and now serves as a consultant to the governor, the Senate president pro tempore, and the speaker of the Assembly. However, the treasurer has no say in how the state’s monies are spent.

In the early days of statehood, the treasurer owned funds of less than $10,000; by the 1950s, the treasury handled billions of dollars. Today, trillions flow through the Office of the Treasury. Monies and securities have been stored in increasingly larger safes and vaults. In 1976, when the State Treasury Department moved to its present facilities on the Capital Mall in Sacramento, several trips by armored cars were required to transport the $18 billion. The current vault is protected by a 23-ton door made of a combination of metals, and two people are required to operate the combination locks that open the door.

The office of the treasurer was considered a relatively low-profile office until former Assembly Speaker Jesse Unruh was elected treasurer in 1974. Over the next 13 years he transformed the office into a powerful force in state government. He exercised influence over the numerous boards and commissions the treasurer sat on that controlled millions of dollars of state revenues. In 1977, he established the Local Agency Investment Fund, an “investment alternative” for local governments and special districts that had 2,750 participants and $19.8 billion as of 2004.

Unruh died in office in 1987, setting off a donnybrook between Republican Governor George Deukmejian and Democrats who controlled the state Senate over their rejection of his nominee, Republican Dan Lungren, for the post. The Assembly had already confirmed the divisive congressman, who had given up his seat in anticipation of confirmation, and Deukmejian argued that one chamber’s approval was enough. The state Supreme Court disagreed and Unruh’s term was completed by his deputy, Elizabeth Whitney.

 

California State Capitol Museum

Historical Tour (Treasurer’s website)

About Jesse M. Unruh (Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics)

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What it Does:

California’s state treasurer, elected every four years, has several responsibilities outlined in Article XVI of the state’s constitution. The treasurer provides banking services for the state government and is responsible for paying warrants drawn by the State Controller or other state agencies. A Centralized Treasury System, in place since 1949, receives the state money and is overseen by the treasurer, who must safeguard the money and make “safe and prudent” investments. The Cash Management Division of the State Treasurer’s Office handles most of these responsibilities.

The state treasurer is the state’s principal asset manager, handling the state’s Pooled Money Investment Account (PIMA) on behalf of California and local jurisdictions. The office finances public works, and the treasurer chairs several authorities that also finance public projects, such as health care, pollution cleanup, and small businesses. The treasurer chairs the Tax Credit Allocation Committee, awarding millions in tax credits for affordable housing. The treasurer is also an ex officio member sitting on the boards of the Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and the State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS), and chairs or is a member of numerous state boards, committees, and authorities.

The treasurer is responsible for all money and securities owned by the state or held in trust. When money is not being actively used, the treasurer decides on investments, striving for the lowest possible service costs and the highest return on investments. The Securities Management Division accounts for the investments conducted by or pledged to the state treasurer. This division also safeguards the vault and any items within the vault.

The Public Finance Division of the state treasurer’s office administers state bonds: selling the bonds, redeeming them, and paying interest on them, as well as providing financial information about state bonds.

In addition, the state treasurer chairs the following boards, authorities, and commissions: California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority, California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission (supporting local public agencies and public finance professionals), California Debt Limit Allocation CommitteeCalifornia Educational Facilities Authority, California Health Facilities Financing Authority, California Industrial Development Financing Advisory Commission, California Pollution Control Financing Authority, California School Financing Authority, California Tax Credit Allocation Committee (administering state and federal low-income housing tax credit programs), California Transportation Financing Authority,  California Urban Waterfront Area Restoration Financing Authority, Local Investment Advisory Board, Pooled Money Investment Board, and the ScholarShare Investment Board. Also, many Bond Finance Committees are chaired by the treasurer, covering such broad areas as water reclamation, stem cell research, and correctional facilities.

The purpose of many of the boards, commissions and authorities is to use state funds and bonds to directly contribute to the economic development of both state and local communities by funding infrastructure and creating jobs and businesses.

The state treasurer sits as a member on the California Earthquake Authority, the California Housing Finance Agency, California Public Library Construction and Renovation Board, and many other entities, listed at the state treasurer’s website.

 

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Where Does the Money Go:

Managing the state of California’s cash resources, Central Treasury System and demand accounts costs $8.4 million. Another $7.7 million is spent in Public Finance, a division responsible for state bond activities. Investment Services cost over $3 million; Securities Management $5 million. The State Treasury Office spends $11.9 million on administration and information services, less $8.7 million in distributed administration.

The treasurer’s office spends $4.7 million of General Fund money. Another $20.35 million comes from reimbursements, and the rest from the Central Service Cost Recovery Fund.

 

3-Year Budget (pdf)

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Controversies:

Redevelopment

Governor Jerry Brown’s 2011 budget proposed eliminating the state’s redevelopment agencies  that have been around for more than half a century and spend billions of dollars on projects outside the normal budgeting process. Although originally conceived as a weapon to combat urban blight, redevelopment has included controversial projects in decidedly non-blighted areas under suspicious circumstances. Other claimed benefits, like job creation, have also been questioned.

One element of the debate that is unquestioned is their popularity among local governments, which gain access to billions of property tax dollars and revenues from issuance of bonds. A large portion of the money is used for affordable housing and other  projects that would not otherwise be built.

State Treasurer Bill Lockyer supported the governor’s proposal and by March was pronouncing the redevelopment fight over. “People realize that redevelopment has created jobs and encouraged economic growth in very important and significant ways,” he said. “Unfortunately, the academic research suggests that mostly it moves jobs from one part of California to another part of California and that half of them don’t pay for themselves.”

Legislation passed after Brown made his proposal gave redevelopment agencies until October 1 to pay a significant portion of their property tax revenues to the state to avoid being killed. The state’s approximately 400 redevelopment agencies, fearful that their fundraising ability was about to be curtailed, went on a municipal-bond selling spree. Lockyer reported in March 2011 that redevelopment agencies sold nearly $700 million worth of bonds between January 1 and March 9, compared to $1.2 billion for all of 2010.  

The city of Galt, where the redevelopment agency in February issued about $6 million in new bonds, exhibited a typical response. “Our biggest fear was that redevelopment agencies would be killed or that our ability to issue bonds would be denied. And we'd be done,” said Galt City Manager Jason Behrmann.

Lockyer called it “a modern-day gold rush” caused when the “cottage industry that runs and works around redevelopment agencies panicked.” As agencies scrambled to sell bonds and raise money, they opted to pay higher interest for their funding after ratings agencies gave the bonds lower ratings.

In the low-interest environment that was being experience nationwide, borrowing should be cheap. But, instead, borrowers paid about one percentage point higher than historic rates. “The result was taxpayers incurred greater debt,” Lockyer said.

The League of California Cities and the California Redevelopment Association filed suit to block the plan.

 

A History of California Redevelopment (Signal Tribune Newspaper)

What Does the Research Say About Redevelopment? (California Budget Project) (pdf)

2011-12 Overview of the Governor’s Budget (Legislative Analyst’s Office) (pdf)

Lockyer Supports Redevelopment End (by Katy Grimes, Cal Watchdog)

Lockyer: RDAs Entering Into Bad Deals (by Katy Grimes, Cal Watchdog)

Cities Issue a Flood of Bonds in the Face of Proposed State Money-Grab (by Jessica Garrison, Los Angeles Times)

State Treasurer Warns That Redevelopment Agencies Are on the Chopping Block (by Gary Walker, Culver City News)

Agencies' Bond Blitz Carries a Big Cost (by Loretta Kalb and Phillip Reese, Sacramento Bee)

Redevelopment Agencies' Panicky Actions Reveal True Colors (Fresno Bee editorial)

 

The Treasurer’s Wife and Her Meth-Addicted Boyfriend

A personal scandal with political implications exploded in April 2012 when Treasurer Bill Lockyer’s wife, Nadia Maria Davis Lockyer, resigned from the Alameda County Board of Supervisors after weeks of media attention over her affair with a methamphetamine addict, his alleged assault on her and her own drug use.

At one point an email surfaced, allegedly sent by Nadia Lockyer, that referenced her husband buying drugs for her. At first, she said her boyfriend, a convicted felon she had met in rehab, had hacked into her account and sent it, but evenutally admitted she wrote it.

Tom Dressler, a spokesman for Bill Lockyer, denied the treasurer had ever bought his wife drugs. “The allegation that Bill Lockyer provided her drugs is B.S. when we didn’t know who sent it, and it’s still B.S.”  Lockyer had announced his intention to run for state controller in 2014 when he is termed out of office.

Nadia Lockyer, an attorney, was elected to the board in 2010, the same day her husband won a second term as treasurer. She said she was quitting to spend more time with their 8-year-old son and focus on her recovery.   

 

Sex-Tape Stunner in Nadia Lockyer Case (by Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross, San Francisco Chronicle)

California Treasurer Bill Lockyer’s Wife Admits Sending Email Linking Him to Drugs (by Kevin Yamamura, Sacramento Bee)

Alameda County Supervisor Nadia Lockyer Resigns, Citing Need to Focus on Motherhood, Recovery (by Julia Prodis Sulek, Angela Woodall and Josh Richman, Mercury News)

 

Sale of Government Properties

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, hoping to reduce a huge budget deficit in 2010, pushed through a controversial plan to raise $1.2 billion by selling 24 buildings at 11 locations, including the Ronald Reagan State Building in downtown Los Angeles and the San Francisco home of the California Supreme Court.

State Treasurer Bill Lockyer opposed the sale, calling it “poor fiscal policy and bad for taxpayers.” But Lockyer and Controller John Chiang, who both sit on the state Public Works Board, were outvoted 3-2 by Schwarzenegger appointees when the issue came before them in November 2010. State legislators had approved the sale in 2009 and the properties had been put on the market early in 2010; the Public Works Board vote was considered the final hurdle.

Terms of the deal dictated that the state would have to lease back the properties for at least 20 years, which the independent Legislative Analyst’s Office said would be roughly equivalent to borrowing at 10% interest for 35 years.

“Taxpayers will be burdened with decades of lease payments that far exceed not only the cost of today's debt service on the buildings, but also the highest interest payments the state would incur if it borrowed a similar amount of money,” Lockyer said.  

The state Department of General Services calculated the deal differently, saying the state would save $2 million over 20 years. The new landlord would be a partnership between a Texas real estate company and a California private-equity firm operating under the name California First, LLC.  

A lawsuit was filed to halt completion of the transaction and in December 2010 the state Supreme Court ruled that the incoming Brown administration would get an opportunity to weigh in on the sale. The decision was made after all the justices recused themselves from the case because their courthouse was one of the buildings scheduled to be sold. Seven Court of Appeal justices ruled in their place.

In February, Governor Jerry Brown cancelled the sale, characterizing it as “a gigantic loan with interest payments that equal . . . over 10% every year.”

 

Evaluating the Sale-Leaseback Proposal: Should the State Sell its Office Buildings? (Legislative Analyst’s Office)

Plan to Sell State Properties to Raise Money for Cash-Strapped California Clears Final Hurdle (by Shane Goldmacher, Los Angeles Times)

Santa Ana Mayor Would Receive $500,000 “Finders Fee” if Sale of State Buildings Goes Forward (by Maria L. La Ganga, Shane Goldmacher and Shan Li, Los Angeles Times)

Supreme Court Terminated Governor's Last-Ditch Petition to Sell State Properties (by Patrick Porgans, California Progress Report)

Supreme Court Assigns Temporary Justices in State Building Sale Case (Judicial Council) (pdf)

Jerry Brown Cancels Sale of State Properties Planned to Help Address California's Budget Crisis (by Shane Goldmacher, Los Angeles Times)

 

The 2008 Budget

The state treasurer’s office was in constant conflict with Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger over formulation of the budget after the election of Bill Lockyer in 2006. Lockyer, a Democrat, called Schwarzenegger disengaged from the budget process and lamented that it had been a far different process when Republican Pete Wilson was governor and he (Lockyer) was in the Legislature. “When I was doing it with Pete Wilson, he would have us in his office 10-12 hours a day, every day, or almost every day,” Lockyer said. “The governor just has to be engaged in the process.”

Lockyer was also not pleased that the governor seemed inclined to borrow his way out of fiscal difficulties rather than make tough decisions. In 2008, Lockyer said of Schwarzenegger, “There's a structural deficit in California that has to be addressed and this governor's done nothing to do that.”

But Lockyer did not reserve his budget wrath for the Republican governor. In 2008, after the Democratic Legislature braved the threat of a gubernatorial veto, Lockyer characterized the budget as “banana republic financing . . . relying on phony money and phony estimates.” He said the legislators “haven’t done their jobs. They haven’t done it for years.”

 

Lockyer: Gov. Skips “Nitty-Gritty” Negotiations (by Shane Goldmacher, Sacramento Bee)

Budget Approved Despite Governor’s Veto Threat (by Matthew Yi, San Francisco Chronicle)

 

State Social Investing: Making Political Statements with Financial Decisions

In 1997, State Treasurer Matt Fong announced that California would boycott Swiss banks because of then-current allegations that the banks held money and objects stolen from Jews by the Nazis. Similar decisions were made by New York State’s government.

Fong was urged forward in the boycott by influential Jewish groups. California had previously invested $2.2 billion in Swiss bank notes, and Fong commented, “Every morning, my office makes $600 million in new investments, but now none of them are Swiss, so that’s a pretty big incentive for the banks.” But some people felt he was just playing politics.

Fong “refused a request . . . to set social standards—including a ban on tobacco investments—on the state’s $12 billion Local Agency Investment Fund,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. He also fought legislation that would have forced the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) to divest themselves of tobacco stocks. As treasurer, Fong sat on the boards of both pension systems.

“He takes on Swiss banks but he claims he can’t act on tobacco,” said Mark Friedman, an El Cerrito councilman. “This is more about politics than anything else.”

Boycotts had been used by the state treasurer before. In the 1980s, California joined many states in boycotting investments in South Africa until that nation ended apartheid.

Sentiments change over time. After Fong, State Treasurer Phil Angelides convinced the boards of CalPERS and CalSTRS to divest themselves of $800 million in tobacco shares—a move that cost the funds a lot of money in lost profits.

Angelides was also accused of being more interested in politics than social investing, as $760 million of CalPERS money was invested in two funds set up by a major contributor to Angelides campaign, Ronald Burkle.

Most recently, Bill Lockyer urged CalPERS and CalSTRS to pull their funds from Valero and Tesoro stocks because “CalPERS and CalSTRS should not be investing in Texas oil companies that hurt the California economy, not more than they should invest in companies that spend millions of shareholder dollars to undermine California’s environmental laws and the state’s green energy industries and green tech jobs.”

 

Controversy Over Boycott of Swiss Banks/State Treasurer Fong Could Gain Politically (by Robert Collier, San Francisco Chronicle)

US Pension Funds, Social Investing and Fiduciary Irresponsibility (by Jon Entine, Ethical Corporation Magazine)

$415 Billion in Assets Say NO on Prop 23 (by Jorge Madrid, Think Progress)

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Suggested Reforms:

Reporting on CalPERS

As part the state’s 2010 budget, Senate Bill 867 was passed and signed by the governor. The bill required making more information about the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) available to policy makers, and required the state treasurer to address the Legislature whenever CalPERS changed the contribution rates of public employers—who number in the thousands. The bill also required the state treasurer to report annually about CalPERS investments. However, some of SB-867’s provisions are considered unworkable, including the numerous appearances of the treasurer before the Legislature.

California’s Legislative Analyst suggested amendments to SB-867. Among them: relieving the state treasurer’s office of SB-867’s responsibilities. The Legislative Analyst suggested the reporting requirements be given to another official which could provide impartial and independent information, and that reports be made to committees, not the entire Legislature. These suggestions were made in January 2011 and have not been implemented yet.

 

Summary of LAO Findings and Recommendations ( Legislative Analyst’s Office)

 

Get Rid of the Treasurer

When Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a major revamping of state government in his California Performance Review of 2004, Professor of Public Policy John W. Ellwood prepared a primer on what academics knew about big government reorganizations.

He made a number of points: few major public sector reorganizations are enacted; they are mostly about the reallocation of power; and they rarely lead to lower levels of spending through efficiencies. Ellwood noted that the Legislature was already in a weakened state because of term limits and that an activist governor could use a reorganization to grab even more power. In Schwarzenegger’s case, the governor had proposed the creation of an Office of Management and Budget to consolidate a number of functions under one roof, reporting directly to him. 

Ellwood didn’t like it. He thought it would cause a clash of cultures, not dissimilar to the “mess” at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, but did think the governor would benefit from consolidating the preparation and execution of the budget under his control. Ellwood recommended that the elected offices of the board of equalization, the secretary of state and the treasurer be eliminated, with sole responsibility for the executive budget functions resting with the governor. He recommended that the controller’s office be retained as a check on possible executive malfeasance.  

 

An Analysis of the Budgetary and Fiscal Analysis Proposals of the California Review (John W. Ellwood statement to the Little Hoover Commission) (pdf)

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Debate:

The Treasurer as a Watchdog of Public Pensions

The state treasurer sits on the boards of both the largest and second-largest public pension plans: the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), which manages the retirement assets 1.6 million workers and beneficiaries (about half of the state’s workers) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS).  There are over 80 other public pension plans in the state. Recent abuses, such as the exorbitant salaries paid to officials in the small city of Bell, outraged most Californians and focused attention on these plans, which pay out pensions based on the employee’s highest salary.

When a state watchdog agency criticized the public pension programs and suggested cutbacks in current employees’ future benefits, it was the state treasurer who fought back on behalf of the public pension funds.

 

Exorbitant Pension Payouts Will Ruin Local and State Economies

In February 2011, the Little Hoover Commission released a report titled “Public Pensions for Retirement Security.” Pulling out salient points, the State Worker blog of the Sacramento Bee summarized the report’s recommendation thus: “That state and local governments roll back pensions for existing employees, dump guaranteed retirement payouts, and put more of the pension burden on workers.”

Why?

“Pension costs to state and local governments are rising at a pace that has grown unmanageable for public agencies to maintain services, and unacceptable for taxpayers,” according to the report. Elected officials and other factors have “put pensions on a path toward unsustainability.”

The executive summary of the report began: “The 2008-09 stock market collapse and housing bust exposed the structural vulnerabilities of California’s public pension systems and the risky political behaviors that have led to a growing retirement obligation for state and local governments.”

“A public pension, like a house, is not a get-quick-rich investment,” the summary continued, claiming that the level of benefits “have become more generous than reasonable.” The report predicts salary freezes, layoffs, and local government bankruptcies if the problem is not addressed.

 

Public Pensions for Retirement Security (Little Hoover Commission) (pdf)

Treasurer Bill Lockyer Hammers Little Hoover Commission (Jon Ortiz, Sacramento Bee)

 

Fears About Public Pension Problems are Exaggerated and Inaccurate

State Treasurer Bill Lockyer claims the Little Hoover Commission report is flawed, riddled with problems and “long on rhetoric and short on thoughtful analysis.”

First, it “makes no attempt to answer a fundamental question: What should be the goal of public pension systems?” In other words, what percentage of an employee’s salary constitutes an “adequately secure retirement?”

The main recommendation of the commission—that government must cut into the future benefits of current employees to meet the state’s financial needs today—is not quantified in any way. Lockyer asks questions and claims the report does not answer them: “How much would the move save immediately or in the long run?” He wonders how much savings are needed, and “needed to do what, exactly? To avoid what, exactly?”

Lockyer claims the report distorts some testimony, and “omits or ignores inconvenient data.” The commission used 2008-09 data on the size of unfunded liability at the pension funds, ignoring data that was available from two subsequent years of market and fund gains. And the report ignores reforms adopted a year earlier by CalPERS that will save up to $13.5 billion by 2040 by increasing workers’ contributions and lowering benefits for new workers.

He accuses the authors of undermining their own arguments with “rhetorical pot shots” and an “inappropriate, inaccurate comparison to the subprime mortgage debacle” when talking about public pension problems.

Further, the report makes inflammatory comments that the facts do not support. “About half of CalPERS retirees receive annual pensions of $18,000 or less. 78% receive $36,000 or less. Only 1.7% of CalPERS retirees receive annual pensions of $102,000 or more. The report omits this data.”

 

Treasurer Bill Lockyer Hammers Little Hoover Commission (by Jon Ortiz, Sacramento Bee)

Comments by State Treasurer Bill Lockyer to “Public Pensions for Retirement Security” (Little Hoover Commission)

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Former Directors:

Bill Lockyer, 2007-2015

Phil Angelides, 1999-2007

Matt Fong, 1995-1999. Fong was the first Asian American Republican to hold statewide office. He was the son of March Fong Eu—a former Democratic California secretary of state, a member of California’s Assembly and ambassador to Micronesia.

Kathleen Brown, 1991-1995. Brown is the daughter of Governor Edmund G. “Pat” Brown, who served from 1959 to 1967, and the sister of Jerry Brown, California’s governor in 1975-1983 and re-elected in 2010. Kathleen Brown ran for governor in 1994, but lost. She joined Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in 2001 and was running the West Coast municipal finance team in 2010 when she was moved to a newly created post in Chicago. The firm noted conflict-of-interest issues. Goldman Sachs was the ninth largest underwriter of municipal debt issued by California in 2010. 

Thomas W. Hayes, 1989-1991

Elizabeth Whitney, 1987-1989

Jesse M. Unruh, 1975-1987. Before being elected treasurer, Unruh served in the state Assembly as a Democrat from 1955-1970; he was speaker of the Assembly from 1961-1969 and minority leader from 1969-1970. His style and physical presence earned him the nickname “Big Daddy” and he was known for locking uncooperative Republicans in the Assembly chambers overnight in 1963 while hammering out a deal on school finance. He helped professionalize the Legislature by actively campaigning in 1966 for Prop 1A, which made it a full-time body that could set its own salaries and hire expert staff. He authored the Unruh Civil Rights Act in 1959 and major consumer and education bills. While treasurer, he transformed the relatively low-key office by helping establish the California Housing Finance Agency, which used revenue bonds to finance low-income housing construction. In 1985, Unruh was a founding member and co-chair of the Council of Institutional Investors, a national group of pension fund managers who believed that by pooling their resources and burgeoning proxy power, they could hold large corporations more accountable to its shareholders. The council is now made up of 125 public, union and corporate employee benefit plans and foundations and endowments with combined assets that exceed $3 trillion. The bigger-than-life politician was known for having as colorful a personal life as professional. Two of his best known quotes were: “Money is the mother’s milk of politics” and “If you can't drink a lobbyist's whiskey, take his money, sleep with his women and still vote against him in the morning, you don't belong in politics.”

Ivy Baker Priest, 1967-1975

Bert A. Betts, 1959-1967

A. Ronald Button, 1956-1959

Charles G. Johnson, 1923-1956. Johnson, the longest-serving state treasurer, resigned in 1956 when questions arose about personal loans of up to $100,000 from banks with state-deposited funds.  No charges were filed, and Johnson died one year later.

Friend William Richardson, 1915-1923

E. D. Roberts, 1911-1915

William R. Williams, 1907-1911

Truman Reeves, 1899-1907

Will S. Green, 1889-1899

Levi Rackliffe, 1895-1898

J. R. McDonald, 1891-1895

Adam Herold, 1887-1891

D. J. Oullahan, 1884-1887

William A. January, 1883-1884

John Weil, 1880-1883

Jose G. Estudillo, 1875-1880

Ferdinand Baehr, 1871-1875

Antonio F. Coronel, 1867-1871

Romaudo Pacheco, 1863-1867

Delos R. Ashley, 1862-1863

Thomas Findley, 1858-1862

James L. English, 1857-1858

Henry Bates, 1856-1857

Seldon A. McMeans, 1854-1856

Richard Roman, 1849-1854

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Founded: 1849
Annual Budget: $27.9 million (Proposed FY 2012-2013)
Employees: 231
Office of the State Treasurer
Chiang, John
State Treasurer

Two-term State Controller John Chiang was elected State Treasurer in 2014, succeeding Bill Lockyer, who was termed out of office.

Chiang graduated with a degree in finance from the University of South Florida, and earned a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. In 1987, he started his career working for the Internal Revenue Service in Los Angeles. He went on to serve as an attorney for the controller's office under Governor Gray Davis, and as a staffer for various campaigns and politicians, including Senator Barbara Boxer. Chiang became an acting member of the Board of Equalization when his boss, Brad Sherman, was elected to Congress. He eventually won a seat on the board in 1998, and served two terms.

Chiang was first elected controller in 2006. Although the job is principally processing government payments and monitoring cash flow, Chiang , the son of immigrants from Taiwan, is better known for freezing lawmakers’ pay until they passed a budget and preventing the governor from slashing the pay of state employees during the process.

He focused on returning more unclaimed property to owners, reforming state pensions and increasing government transparency and accountability during his time in office. In successive budget negotiations, Chiang clashed with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger by refusing to reduce state employees' pay. He won re-election by defeating Republican Tony Strickland in 2010 and the next year, Chiang stopped paychecks to legislators until they produced a budget Governor Jerry Brown was willing to sign.

Chiang and his campaigns have given contributions to several Democratic groups and candidates from California, including Sherman and Boxer. He receives strong union support.

 

John Chiang Biography (State controller’s website)

Controller's Unlikely Turn in the Spotlight (by Shane Goldmacher and Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times)

Controller John Chiang – The Union Tool (by Jon Fleischman, FlashReport)

John Chiang Is a Nerd (That's a Good Thing) (by Brian Leubitz, Calitics)

Dozens of Politicians Already Looking to 2014 (by Chase Davis, California Watch)

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Lockyer, Bill
Former State Treasurer

Elected with the slogan “Straight talk, no Bull #*+!,” William Westwood “Bill” Lockyer served two terms as state treasurer. He was elected in 2006 and again in 2010.

Lockyer earned a teaching credential from California State University in Hayward, and graduated with a bachelors degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. He worked as a teacher, and his first elective office was as a member of the San Leandro School Board in 1968.

He spent a total of 25 years as a member of the state Legislature, first in the Assembly from 1973, before legislators were limited as to the number of terms they could serve. He later became a state senator. While in the Senate, Lockyer earned his law degree from the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. He served as Senate president pro tempore from 1994 to 1998.

In 1998, Lockyer was elected the state’s attorney general, where he oversaw the creation of a sophisticated DNA forensic crime laboratory. During Lockyer’s tenure, the Megan’s law website, which tracks registered sex offenders, was established. Other accomplishments include an aggressive crackdown on Medi-Cal abuses and—through his Energy Task Force—the recovery of billions of dollars for California consumers who had been defrauded by energy companies. 

Lockyer is known for “speaking his mind with astonishing frankness,” as the Huffington Post put it, “. . . without regard for political fallout.”

As treasurer, Lockyer touted the fact that none of the state’s principal in the Pooled Money Investment Account (PIMA) was lost during the recession. He also expanded the state’s investment in renewable energy, increased the sale of state bonds, reformed some of the methods of credit rating agencies in the state, directed over $1.3 billion in financial assistance to California’s small businesses, expanded ScholarShare (the state’s “529” college savings accounts for families), and expanded availability of low-cost loans to small and rural health care clinics.

Lockyer and his wife, Nadia Maria Davis Lockyer, have one young son, and Lockyer has an adult daughter by a previous marriage. Nadia Lockyer, an attorney, was elected to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors in 2010, on the same day that her husband won his second term as state treasurer.

Nadia Lockyer resigned from the board of supervisors in April 2012 after weeks of media stories detailing her affair with a methamphetamine drug addict, his alleged assault on her and her own drug use. At one point an email surfaced, allegedly sent by Nadia Lockyer that referenced her husband buying drugs for her. At first, she said her boyfriend had hacked into her account and sent it, but evenutally admitted she wrote it.

Tom Dressler, a spokesman for Bill Lockyer, denied the treasurer had ever bought his wife drugs. “The allegation that Bill Lockyer provided her drugs is B.S. when we didn’t know who sent it, and it’s still B.S.”

Lockyer will be termed out of office in 2014 and has indicated he will run for state controller at that time.

 

Biography (Treasurer’s website)

Project VoteSmart

The Top Vote-Getter in America? Lockyer of California  (by Richard H. Smith, Huffington Post)

About Bill (Lockyer homepage)

Newsom Leads Fundraising for 2014 (by Chase Davis, California Watch)

California Treasurer Bill Lockyer’s Wife Admits Sending Email Linking Him to Drugs (by Kevin Yamamura, Sacramento Bee)

Alameda County Supervisor Nadia Lockyer Resigns, Citing Need to Focus on Motherhood, Recovery (by Julia Prodis Sulek, Angela Woodall and Josh Richman, Mercury News)

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Overview:

The State Treasurer’s office is, in essence, the state’s banker. It is responsible for the state’s investment and finance, with goals of minimizing interest and service costs while maximizing yields on investment. The office is responsible for all the money held in trust by the state. It also handles the administration of state bond sales, redemptions and interest payments. The state treasurer is elected every four years and may serve two terms.

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History:

California’s first state treasurer, Richard Roman, was voted into office by the Legislature in December 1849, in San Jose—then the state capital. The duties of Roman’s office, spelled out in the state’s first constitution, were to collect taxes and guard the state’s money. He helped do that by purchasing the state’s first safe, for $1,130; the balance in the state treasury was $9,900. In those days, the state’s funds were exclusively gold and silver. Through the early 1900’s, those duties remained the same, though bonds and securities made up much of the state’s funds.

By the 1920s, California Bank Acts had expanded the treasurer’s role, allowing the state’s funds to be deposited in commercial banks. During the Depression, however, the state’s money was withdrawn from private banks and placed in a vault at the treasurer’s office once again. The vault was divided into two sections by a 7-foot-tall metal grill. One side of the vault housed an officer in charge of daily sales and the receipt of bonds and securities, and the other side held desks for the vault officers who delivered and received authorized bonds, and who oversaw security for the vault itself. This two-sided vault was used until 1975.

Further California Bank Acts allowed the investment of state funds, with oversight by the treasurer. In 1949, the Legislature created the Centralized Treasury System and required all state agencies to deposit their money with the treasurer. The treasurer thus became an asset manager as well, and now serves as a consultant to the governor, the Senate president pro tempore, and the speaker of the Assembly. However, the treasurer has no say in how the state’s monies are spent.

In the early days of statehood, the treasurer owned funds of less than $10,000; by the 1950s, the treasury handled billions of dollars. Today, trillions flow through the Office of the Treasury. Monies and securities have been stored in increasingly larger safes and vaults. In 1976, when the State Treasury Department moved to its present facilities on the Capital Mall in Sacramento, several trips by armored cars were required to transport the $18 billion. The current vault is protected by a 23-ton door made of a combination of metals, and two people are required to operate the combination locks that open the door.

The office of the treasurer was considered a relatively low-profile office until former Assembly Speaker Jesse Unruh was elected treasurer in 1974. Over the next 13 years he transformed the office into a powerful force in state government. He exercised influence over the numerous boards and commissions the treasurer sat on that controlled millions of dollars of state revenues. In 1977, he established the Local Agency Investment Fund, an “investment alternative” for local governments and special districts that had 2,750 participants and $19.8 billion as of 2004.

Unruh died in office in 1987, setting off a donnybrook between Republican Governor George Deukmejian and Democrats who controlled the state Senate over their rejection of his nominee, Republican Dan Lungren, for the post. The Assembly had already confirmed the divisive congressman, who had given up his seat in anticipation of confirmation, and Deukmejian argued that one chamber’s approval was enough. The state Supreme Court disagreed and Unruh’s term was completed by his deputy, Elizabeth Whitney.

 

California State Capitol Museum

Historical Tour (Treasurer’s website)

About Jesse M. Unruh (Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics)

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What it Does:

California’s state treasurer, elected every four years, has several responsibilities outlined in Article XVI of the state’s constitution. The treasurer provides banking services for the state government and is responsible for paying warrants drawn by the State Controller or other state agencies. A Centralized Treasury System, in place since 1949, receives the state money and is overseen by the treasurer, who must safeguard the money and make “safe and prudent” investments. The Cash Management Division of the State Treasurer’s Office handles most of these responsibilities.

The state treasurer is the state’s principal asset manager, handling the state’s Pooled Money Investment Account (PIMA) on behalf of California and local jurisdictions. The office finances public works, and the treasurer chairs several authorities that also finance public projects, such as health care, pollution cleanup, and small businesses. The treasurer chairs the Tax Credit Allocation Committee, awarding millions in tax credits for affordable housing. The treasurer is also an ex officio member sitting on the boards of the Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and the State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS), and chairs or is a member of numerous state boards, committees, and authorities.

The treasurer is responsible for all money and securities owned by the state or held in trust. When money is not being actively used, the treasurer decides on investments, striving for the lowest possible service costs and the highest return on investments. The Securities Management Division accounts for the investments conducted by or pledged to the state treasurer. This division also safeguards the vault and any items within the vault.

The Public Finance Division of the state treasurer’s office administers state bonds: selling the bonds, redeeming them, and paying interest on them, as well as providing financial information about state bonds.

In addition, the state treasurer chairs the following boards, authorities, and commissions: California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority, California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission (supporting local public agencies and public finance professionals), California Debt Limit Allocation CommitteeCalifornia Educational Facilities Authority, California Health Facilities Financing Authority, California Industrial Development Financing Advisory Commission, California Pollution Control Financing Authority, California School Financing Authority, California Tax Credit Allocation Committee (administering state and federal low-income housing tax credit programs), California Transportation Financing Authority,  California Urban Waterfront Area Restoration Financing Authority, Local Investment Advisory Board, Pooled Money Investment Board, and the ScholarShare Investment Board. Also, many Bond Finance Committees are chaired by the treasurer, covering such broad areas as water reclamation, stem cell research, and correctional facilities.

The purpose of many of the boards, commissions and authorities is to use state funds and bonds to directly contribute to the economic development of both state and local communities by funding infrastructure and creating jobs and businesses.

The state treasurer sits as a member on the California Earthquake Authority, the California Housing Finance Agency, California Public Library Construction and Renovation Board, and many other entities, listed at the state treasurer’s website.

 

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Where Does the Money Go:

Managing the state of California’s cash resources, Central Treasury System and demand accounts costs $8.4 million. Another $7.7 million is spent in Public Finance, a division responsible for state bond activities. Investment Services cost over $3 million; Securities Management $5 million. The State Treasury Office spends $11.9 million on administration and information services, less $8.7 million in distributed administration.

The treasurer’s office spends $4.7 million of General Fund money. Another $20.35 million comes from reimbursements, and the rest from the Central Service Cost Recovery Fund.

 

3-Year Budget (pdf)

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Controversies:

Redevelopment

Governor Jerry Brown’s 2011 budget proposed eliminating the state’s redevelopment agencies  that have been around for more than half a century and spend billions of dollars on projects outside the normal budgeting process. Although originally conceived as a weapon to combat urban blight, redevelopment has included controversial projects in decidedly non-blighted areas under suspicious circumstances. Other claimed benefits, like job creation, have also been questioned.

One element of the debate that is unquestioned is their popularity among local governments, which gain access to billions of property tax dollars and revenues from issuance of bonds. A large portion of the money is used for affordable housing and other  projects that would not otherwise be built.

State Treasurer Bill Lockyer supported the governor’s proposal and by March was pronouncing the redevelopment fight over. “People realize that redevelopment has created jobs and encouraged economic growth in very important and significant ways,” he said. “Unfortunately, the academic research suggests that mostly it moves jobs from one part of California to another part of California and that half of them don’t pay for themselves.”

Legislation passed after Brown made his proposal gave redevelopment agencies until October 1 to pay a significant portion of their property tax revenues to the state to avoid being killed. The state’s approximately 400 redevelopment agencies, fearful that their fundraising ability was about to be curtailed, went on a municipal-bond selling spree. Lockyer reported in March 2011 that redevelopment agencies sold nearly $700 million worth of bonds between January 1 and March 9, compared to $1.2 billion for all of 2010.  

The city of Galt, where the redevelopment agency in February issued about $6 million in new bonds, exhibited a typical response. “Our biggest fear was that redevelopment agencies would be killed or that our ability to issue bonds would be denied. And we'd be done,” said Galt City Manager Jason Behrmann.

Lockyer called it “a modern-day gold rush” caused when the “cottage industry that runs and works around redevelopment agencies panicked.” As agencies scrambled to sell bonds and raise money, they opted to pay higher interest for their funding after ratings agencies gave the bonds lower ratings.

In the low-interest environment that was being experience nationwide, borrowing should be cheap. But, instead, borrowers paid about one percentage point higher than historic rates. “The result was taxpayers incurred greater debt,” Lockyer said.

The League of California Cities and the California Redevelopment Association filed suit to block the plan.

 

A History of California Redevelopment (Signal Tribune Newspaper)

What Does the Research Say About Redevelopment? (California Budget Project) (pdf)

2011-12 Overview of the Governor’s Budget (Legislative Analyst’s Office) (pdf)

Lockyer Supports Redevelopment End (by Katy Grimes, Cal Watchdog)

Lockyer: RDAs Entering Into Bad Deals (by Katy Grimes, Cal Watchdog)

Cities Issue a Flood of Bonds in the Face of Proposed State Money-Grab (by Jessica Garrison, Los Angeles Times)

State Treasurer Warns That Redevelopment Agencies Are on the Chopping Block (by Gary Walker, Culver City News)

Agencies' Bond Blitz Carries a Big Cost (by Loretta Kalb and Phillip Reese, Sacramento Bee)

Redevelopment Agencies' Panicky Actions Reveal True Colors (Fresno Bee editorial)

 

The Treasurer’s Wife and Her Meth-Addicted Boyfriend

A personal scandal with political implications exploded in April 2012 when Treasurer Bill Lockyer’s wife, Nadia Maria Davis Lockyer, resigned from the Alameda County Board of Supervisors after weeks of media attention over her affair with a methamphetamine addict, his alleged assault on her and her own drug use.

At one point an email surfaced, allegedly sent by Nadia Lockyer, that referenced her husband buying drugs for her. At first, she said her boyfriend, a convicted felon she had met in rehab, had hacked into her account and sent it, but evenutally admitted she wrote it.

Tom Dressler, a spokesman for Bill Lockyer, denied the treasurer had ever bought his wife drugs. “The allegation that Bill Lockyer provided her drugs is B.S. when we didn’t know who sent it, and it’s still B.S.”  Lockyer had announced his intention to run for state controller in 2014 when he is termed out of office.

Nadia Lockyer, an attorney, was elected to the board in 2010, the same day her husband won a second term as treasurer. She said she was quitting to spend more time with their 8-year-old son and focus on her recovery.   

 

Sex-Tape Stunner in Nadia Lockyer Case (by Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross, San Francisco Chronicle)

California Treasurer Bill Lockyer’s Wife Admits Sending Email Linking Him to Drugs (by Kevin Yamamura, Sacramento Bee)

Alameda County Supervisor Nadia Lockyer Resigns, Citing Need to Focus on Motherhood, Recovery (by Julia Prodis Sulek, Angela Woodall and Josh Richman, Mercury News)

 

Sale of Government Properties

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, hoping to reduce a huge budget deficit in 2010, pushed through a controversial plan to raise $1.2 billion by selling 24 buildings at 11 locations, including the Ronald Reagan State Building in downtown Los Angeles and the San Francisco home of the California Supreme Court.

State Treasurer Bill Lockyer opposed the sale, calling it “poor fiscal policy and bad for taxpayers.” But Lockyer and Controller John Chiang, who both sit on the state Public Works Board, were outvoted 3-2 by Schwarzenegger appointees when the issue came before them in November 2010. State legislators had approved the sale in 2009 and the properties had been put on the market early in 2010; the Public Works Board vote was considered the final hurdle.

Terms of the deal dictated that the state would have to lease back the properties for at least 20 years, which the independent Legislative Analyst’s Office said would be roughly equivalent to borrowing at 10% interest for 35 years.

“Taxpayers will be burdened with decades of lease payments that far exceed not only the cost of today's debt service on the buildings, but also the highest interest payments the state would incur if it borrowed a similar amount of money,” Lockyer said.  

The state Department of General Services calculated the deal differently, saying the state would save $2 million over 20 years. The new landlord would be a partnership between a Texas real estate company and a California private-equity firm operating under the name California First, LLC.  

A lawsuit was filed to halt completion of the transaction and in December 2010 the state Supreme Court ruled that the incoming Brown administration would get an opportunity to weigh in on the sale. The decision was made after all the justices recused themselves from the case because their courthouse was one of the buildings scheduled to be sold. Seven Court of Appeal justices ruled in their place.

In February, Governor Jerry Brown cancelled the sale, characterizing it as “a gigantic loan with interest payments that equal . . . over 10% every year.”

 

Evaluating the Sale-Leaseback Proposal: Should the State Sell its Office Buildings? (Legislative Analyst’s Office)

Plan to Sell State Properties to Raise Money for Cash-Strapped California Clears Final Hurdle (by Shane Goldmacher, Los Angeles Times)

Santa Ana Mayor Would Receive $500,000 “Finders Fee” if Sale of State Buildings Goes Forward (by Maria L. La Ganga, Shane Goldmacher and Shan Li, Los Angeles Times)

Supreme Court Terminated Governor's Last-Ditch Petition to Sell State Properties (by Patrick Porgans, California Progress Report)

Supreme Court Assigns Temporary Justices in State Building Sale Case (Judicial Council) (pdf)

Jerry Brown Cancels Sale of State Properties Planned to Help Address California's Budget Crisis (by Shane Goldmacher, Los Angeles Times)

 

The 2008 Budget

The state treasurer’s office was in constant conflict with Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger over formulation of the budget after the election of Bill Lockyer in 2006. Lockyer, a Democrat, called Schwarzenegger disengaged from the budget process and lamented that it had been a far different process when Republican Pete Wilson was governor and he (Lockyer) was in the Legislature. “When I was doing it with Pete Wilson, he would have us in his office 10-12 hours a day, every day, or almost every day,” Lockyer said. “The governor just has to be engaged in the process.”

Lockyer was also not pleased that the governor seemed inclined to borrow his way out of fiscal difficulties rather than make tough decisions. In 2008, Lockyer said of Schwarzenegger, “There's a structural deficit in California that has to be addressed and this governor's done nothing to do that.”

But Lockyer did not reserve his budget wrath for the Republican governor. In 2008, after the Democratic Legislature braved the threat of a gubernatorial veto, Lockyer characterized the budget as “banana republic financing . . . relying on phony money and phony estimates.” He said the legislators “haven’t done their jobs. They haven’t done it for years.”

 

Lockyer: Gov. Skips “Nitty-Gritty” Negotiations (by Shane Goldmacher, Sacramento Bee)

Budget Approved Despite Governor’s Veto Threat (by Matthew Yi, San Francisco Chronicle)

 

State Social Investing: Making Political Statements with Financial Decisions

In 1997, State Treasurer Matt Fong announced that California would boycott Swiss banks because of then-current allegations that the banks held money and objects stolen from Jews by the Nazis. Similar decisions were made by New York State’s government.

Fong was urged forward in the boycott by influential Jewish groups. California had previously invested $2.2 billion in Swiss bank notes, and Fong commented, “Every morning, my office makes $600 million in new investments, but now none of them are Swiss, so that’s a pretty big incentive for the banks.” But some people felt he was just playing politics.

Fong “refused a request . . . to set social standards—including a ban on tobacco investments—on the state’s $12 billion Local Agency Investment Fund,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. He also fought legislation that would have forced the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) to divest themselves of tobacco stocks. As treasurer, Fong sat on the boards of both pension systems.

“He takes on Swiss banks but he claims he can’t act on tobacco,” said Mark Friedman, an El Cerrito councilman. “This is more about politics than anything else.”

Boycotts had been used by the state treasurer before. In the 1980s, California joined many states in boycotting investments in South Africa until that nation ended apartheid.

Sentiments change over time. After Fong, State Treasurer Phil Angelides convinced the boards of CalPERS and CalSTRS to divest themselves of $800 million in tobacco shares—a move that cost the funds a lot of money in lost profits.

Angelides was also accused of being more interested in politics than social investing, as $760 million of CalPERS money was invested in two funds set up by a major contributor to Angelides campaign, Ronald Burkle.

Most recently, Bill Lockyer urged CalPERS and CalSTRS to pull their funds from Valero and Tesoro stocks because “CalPERS and CalSTRS should not be investing in Texas oil companies that hurt the California economy, not more than they should invest in companies that spend millions of shareholder dollars to undermine California’s environmental laws and the state’s green energy industries and green tech jobs.”

 

Controversy Over Boycott of Swiss Banks/State Treasurer Fong Could Gain Politically (by Robert Collier, San Francisco Chronicle)

US Pension Funds, Social Investing and Fiduciary Irresponsibility (by Jon Entine, Ethical Corporation Magazine)

$415 Billion in Assets Say NO on Prop 23 (by Jorge Madrid, Think Progress)

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Suggested Reforms:

Reporting on CalPERS

As part the state’s 2010 budget, Senate Bill 867 was passed and signed by the governor. The bill required making more information about the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) available to policy makers, and required the state treasurer to address the Legislature whenever CalPERS changed the contribution rates of public employers—who number in the thousands. The bill also required the state treasurer to report annually about CalPERS investments. However, some of SB-867’s provisions are considered unworkable, including the numerous appearances of the treasurer before the Legislature.

California’s Legislative Analyst suggested amendments to SB-867. Among them: relieving the state treasurer’s office of SB-867’s responsibilities. The Legislative Analyst suggested the reporting requirements be given to another official which could provide impartial and independent information, and that reports be made to committees, not the entire Legislature. These suggestions were made in January 2011 and have not been implemented yet.

 

Summary of LAO Findings and Recommendations ( Legislative Analyst’s Office)

 

Get Rid of the Treasurer

When Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a major revamping of state government in his California Performance Review of 2004, Professor of Public Policy John W. Ellwood prepared a primer on what academics knew about big government reorganizations.

He made a number of points: few major public sector reorganizations are enacted; they are mostly about the reallocation of power; and they rarely lead to lower levels of spending through efficiencies. Ellwood noted that the Legislature was already in a weakened state because of term limits and that an activist governor could use a reorganization to grab even more power. In Schwarzenegger’s case, the governor had proposed the creation of an Office of Management and Budget to consolidate a number of functions under one roof, reporting directly to him. 

Ellwood didn’t like it. He thought it would cause a clash of cultures, not dissimilar to the “mess” at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, but did think the governor would benefit from consolidating the preparation and execution of the budget under his control. Ellwood recommended that the elected offices of the board of equalization, the secretary of state and the treasurer be eliminated, with sole responsibility for the executive budget functions resting with the governor. He recommended that the controller’s office be retained as a check on possible executive malfeasance.  

 

An Analysis of the Budgetary and Fiscal Analysis Proposals of the California Review (John W. Ellwood statement to the Little Hoover Commission) (pdf)

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Debate:

The Treasurer as a Watchdog of Public Pensions

The state treasurer sits on the boards of both the largest and second-largest public pension plans: the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), which manages the retirement assets 1.6 million workers and beneficiaries (about half of the state’s workers) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS).  There are over 80 other public pension plans in the state. Recent abuses, such as the exorbitant salaries paid to officials in the small city of Bell, outraged most Californians and focused attention on these plans, which pay out pensions based on the employee’s highest salary.

When a state watchdog agency criticized the public pension programs and suggested cutbacks in current employees’ future benefits, it was the state treasurer who fought back on behalf of the public pension funds.

 

Exorbitant Pension Payouts Will Ruin Local and State Economies

In February 2011, the Little Hoover Commission released a report titled “Public Pensions for Retirement Security.” Pulling out salient points, the State Worker blog of the Sacramento Bee summarized the report’s recommendation thus: “That state and local governments roll back pensions for existing employees, dump guaranteed retirement payouts, and put more of the pension burden on workers.”

Why?

“Pension costs to state and local governments are rising at a pace that has grown unmanageable for public agencies to maintain services, and unacceptable for taxpayers,” according to the report. Elected officials and other factors have “put pensions on a path toward unsustainability.”

The executive summary of the report began: “The 2008-09 stock market collapse and housing bust exposed the structural vulnerabilities of California’s public pension systems and the risky political behaviors that have led to a growing retirement obligation for state and local governments.”

“A public pension, like a house, is not a get-quick-rich investment,” the summary continued, claiming that the level of benefits “have become more generous than reasonable.” The report predicts salary freezes, layoffs, and local government bankruptcies if the problem is not addressed.

 

Public Pensions for Retirement Security (Little Hoover Commission) (pdf)

Treasurer Bill Lockyer Hammers Little Hoover Commission (Jon Ortiz, Sacramento Bee)

 

Fears About Public Pension Problems are Exaggerated and Inaccurate

State Treasurer Bill Lockyer claims the Little Hoover Commission report is flawed, riddled with problems and “long on rhetoric and short on thoughtful analysis.”

First, it “makes no attempt to answer a fundamental question: What should be the goal of public pension systems?” In other words, what percentage of an employee’s salary constitutes an “adequately secure retirement?”

The main recommendation of the commission—that government must cut into the future benefits of current employees to meet the state’s financial needs today—is not quantified in any way. Lockyer asks questions and claims the report does not answer them: “How much would the move save immediately or in the long run?” He wonders how much savings are needed, and “needed to do what, exactly? To avoid what, exactly?”

Lockyer claims the report distorts some testimony, and “omits or ignores inconvenient data.” The commission used 2008-09 data on the size of unfunded liability at the pension funds, ignoring data that was available from two subsequent years of market and fund gains. And the report ignores reforms adopted a year earlier by CalPERS that will save up to $13.5 billion by 2040 by increasing workers’ contributions and lowering benefits for new workers.

He accuses the authors of undermining their own arguments with “rhetorical pot shots” and an “inappropriate, inaccurate comparison to the subprime mortgage debacle” when talking about public pension problems.

Further, the report makes inflammatory comments that the facts do not support. “About half of CalPERS retirees receive annual pensions of $18,000 or less. 78% receive $36,000 or less. Only 1.7% of CalPERS retirees receive annual pensions of $102,000 or more. The report omits this data.”

 

Treasurer Bill Lockyer Hammers Little Hoover Commission (by Jon Ortiz, Sacramento Bee)

Comments by State Treasurer Bill Lockyer to “Public Pensions for Retirement Security” (Little Hoover Commission)

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Former Directors:

Bill Lockyer, 2007-2015

Phil Angelides, 1999-2007

Matt Fong, 1995-1999. Fong was the first Asian American Republican to hold statewide office. He was the son of March Fong Eu—a former Democratic California secretary of state, a member of California’s Assembly and ambassador to Micronesia.

Kathleen Brown, 1991-1995. Brown is the daughter of Governor Edmund G. “Pat” Brown, who served from 1959 to 1967, and the sister of Jerry Brown, California’s governor in 1975-1983 and re-elected in 2010. Kathleen Brown ran for governor in 1994, but lost. She joined Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in 2001 and was running the West Coast municipal finance team in 2010 when she was moved to a newly created post in Chicago. The firm noted conflict-of-interest issues. Goldman Sachs was the ninth largest underwriter of municipal debt issued by California in 2010. 

Thomas W. Hayes, 1989-1991

Elizabeth Whitney, 1987-1989

Jesse M. Unruh, 1975-1987. Before being elected treasurer, Unruh served in the state Assembly as a Democrat from 1955-1970; he was speaker of the Assembly from 1961-1969 and minority leader from 1969-1970. His style and physical presence earned him the nickname “Big Daddy” and he was known for locking uncooperative Republicans in the Assembly chambers overnight in 1963 while hammering out a deal on school finance. He helped professionalize the Legislature by actively campaigning in 1966 for Prop 1A, which made it a full-time body that could set its own salaries and hire expert staff. He authored the Unruh Civil Rights Act in 1959 and major consumer and education bills. While treasurer, he transformed the relatively low-key office by helping establish the California Housing Finance Agency, which used revenue bonds to finance low-income housing construction. In 1985, Unruh was a founding member and co-chair of the Council of Institutional Investors, a national group of pension fund managers who believed that by pooling their resources and burgeoning proxy power, they could hold large corporations more accountable to its shareholders. The council is now made up of 125 public, union and corporate employee benefit plans and foundations and endowments with combined assets that exceed $3 trillion. The bigger-than-life politician was known for having as colorful a personal life as professional. Two of his best known quotes were: “Money is the mother’s milk of politics” and “If you can't drink a lobbyist's whiskey, take his money, sleep with his women and still vote against him in the morning, you don't belong in politics.”

Ivy Baker Priest, 1967-1975

Bert A. Betts, 1959-1967

A. Ronald Button, 1956-1959

Charles G. Johnson, 1923-1956. Johnson, the longest-serving state treasurer, resigned in 1956 when questions arose about personal loans of up to $100,000 from banks with state-deposited funds.  No charges were filed, and Johnson died one year later.

Friend William Richardson, 1915-1923

E. D. Roberts, 1911-1915

William R. Williams, 1907-1911

Truman Reeves, 1899-1907

Will S. Green, 1889-1899

Levi Rackliffe, 1895-1898

J. R. McDonald, 1891-1895

Adam Herold, 1887-1891

D. J. Oullahan, 1884-1887

William A. January, 1883-1884

John Weil, 1880-1883

Jose G. Estudillo, 1875-1880

Ferdinand Baehr, 1871-1875

Antonio F. Coronel, 1867-1871

Romaudo Pacheco, 1863-1867

Delos R. Ashley, 1862-1863

Thomas Findley, 1858-1862

James L. English, 1857-1858

Henry Bates, 1856-1857

Seldon A. McMeans, 1854-1856

Richard Roman, 1849-1854

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Founded: 1849
Annual Budget: $27.9 million (Proposed FY 2012-2013)
Employees: 231
Office of the State Treasurer
Chiang, John
State Treasurer

Two-term State Controller John Chiang was elected State Treasurer in 2014, succeeding Bill Lockyer, who was termed out of office.

Chiang graduated with a degree in finance from the University of South Florida, and earned a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. In 1987, he started his career working for the Internal Revenue Service in Los Angeles. He went on to serve as an attorney for the controller's office under Governor Gray Davis, and as a staffer for various campaigns and politicians, including Senator Barbara Boxer. Chiang became an acting member of the Board of Equalization when his boss, Brad Sherman, was elected to Congress. He eventually won a seat on the board in 1998, and served two terms.

Chiang was first elected controller in 2006. Although the job is principally processing government payments and monitoring cash flow, Chiang , the son of immigrants from Taiwan, is better known for freezing lawmakers’ pay until they passed a budget and preventing the governor from slashing the pay of state employees during the process.

He focused on returning more unclaimed property to owners, reforming state pensions and increasing government transparency and accountability during his time in office. In successive budget negotiations, Chiang clashed with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger by refusing to reduce state employees' pay. He won re-election by defeating Republican Tony Strickland in 2010 and the next year, Chiang stopped paychecks to legislators until they produced a budget Governor Jerry Brown was willing to sign.

Chiang and his campaigns have given contributions to several Democratic groups and candidates from California, including Sherman and Boxer. He receives strong union support.

 

John Chiang Biography (State controller’s website)

Controller's Unlikely Turn in the Spotlight (by Shane Goldmacher and Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times)

Controller John Chiang – The Union Tool (by Jon Fleischman, FlashReport)

John Chiang Is a Nerd (That's a Good Thing) (by Brian Leubitz, Calitics)

Dozens of Politicians Already Looking to 2014 (by Chase Davis, California Watch)

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Lockyer, Bill
Former State Treasurer

Elected with the slogan “Straight talk, no Bull #*+!,” William Westwood “Bill” Lockyer served two terms as state treasurer. He was elected in 2006 and again in 2010.

Lockyer earned a teaching credential from California State University in Hayward, and graduated with a bachelors degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. He worked as a teacher, and his first elective office was as a member of the San Leandro School Board in 1968.

He spent a total of 25 years as a member of the state Legislature, first in the Assembly from 1973, before legislators were limited as to the number of terms they could serve. He later became a state senator. While in the Senate, Lockyer earned his law degree from the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. He served as Senate president pro tempore from 1994 to 1998.

In 1998, Lockyer was elected the state’s attorney general, where he oversaw the creation of a sophisticated DNA forensic crime laboratory. During Lockyer’s tenure, the Megan’s law website, which tracks registered sex offenders, was established. Other accomplishments include an aggressive crackdown on Medi-Cal abuses and—through his Energy Task Force—the recovery of billions of dollars for California consumers who had been defrauded by energy companies. 

Lockyer is known for “speaking his mind with astonishing frankness,” as the Huffington Post put it, “. . . without regard for political fallout.”

As treasurer, Lockyer touted the fact that none of the state’s principal in the Pooled Money Investment Account (PIMA) was lost during the recession. He also expanded the state’s investment in renewable energy, increased the sale of state bonds, reformed some of the methods of credit rating agencies in the state, directed over $1.3 billion in financial assistance to California’s small businesses, expanded ScholarShare (the state’s “529” college savings accounts for families), and expanded availability of low-cost loans to small and rural health care clinics.

Lockyer and his wife, Nadia Maria Davis Lockyer, have one young son, and Lockyer has an adult daughter by a previous marriage. Nadia Lockyer, an attorney, was elected to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors in 2010, on the same day that her husband won his second term as state treasurer.

Nadia Lockyer resigned from the board of supervisors in April 2012 after weeks of media stories detailing her affair with a methamphetamine drug addict, his alleged assault on her and her own drug use. At one point an email surfaced, allegedly sent by Nadia Lockyer that referenced her husband buying drugs for her. At first, she said her boyfriend had hacked into her account and sent it, but evenutally admitted she wrote it.

Tom Dressler, a spokesman for Bill Lockyer, denied the treasurer had ever bought his wife drugs. “The allegation that Bill Lockyer provided her drugs is B.S. when we didn’t know who sent it, and it’s still B.S.”

Lockyer will be termed out of office in 2014 and has indicated he will run for state controller at that time.

 

Biography (Treasurer’s website)

Project VoteSmart

The Top Vote-Getter in America? Lockyer of California  (by Richard H. Smith, Huffington Post)

About Bill (Lockyer homepage)

Newsom Leads Fundraising for 2014 (by Chase Davis, California Watch)

California Treasurer Bill Lockyer’s Wife Admits Sending Email Linking Him to Drugs (by Kevin Yamamura, Sacramento Bee)

Alameda County Supervisor Nadia Lockyer Resigns, Citing Need to Focus on Motherhood, Recovery (by Julia Prodis Sulek, Angela Woodall and Josh Richman, Mercury News)

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