As the Board representative for State Agency and California State University employees, my priorities for my third term will continue to be:

Health Care

  • Provide affordable, high quality health care for our families;
  • Fight skyrocketing health care costs;
  • Explore innovative ways to address the looming health care crisis;
  • Ensure accessibility of care for all members;
  • Avoid schemes that shift costs to employees under the guise of "cost savings";
  • Press to establish an investment fund for retiree benefits.
  • Encourage investing by the state to fund retiree health benefits.

"There is no question but that guaranteeing security of our health care benefits is now our biggest challenge. To ensure that health care is accessible, comprehensive and affordable, CalPERS must do more than just be a tough negotiator. We need to be innovative, find new solutions to the health care crisis, and work with other purchasers to increase our market power. Because it is essential to long-term viability of our benefits, I will lead CalPERS in seeking change at the state and national levels."

Corporate Accountability

  • Strengthen laws and regulations to rein in egregious compensation packages for corporate executives;
  • Improve access to the "proxy" for shareowners;
  • Continue to improve corporate governance;
  • Open up management-dominated corporate boards to outside independent directors.

"The recent meltdown of our financial markets make it patently clear that regulations were lacking and that the regulators were lax. CalPERS has been very effective in demanding reform. The laws have been changed but much remains to be done to ensure the safety of our investments."

Investment Returns

  • Ensure that our investments yield the maximum return within appropriate levels of risk;
  • Guard against investments that threaten jobs of public service workers;
  • Encourage creative and innovative investments including those that protect the environment.

"Solid investment returns underpin the security of both our pensions and health benefits. The world of investments continues to grow ever more complex and sophisticated requiring that PERS continue to remain at the cutting edge. At the same time, CalPERS must invest responsibly, avoiding ventures that threaten public-sector jobs or reward companies who disregard human rights."

Pensions

  • Protect our Defined Benefit pension system against threats of "privatization" that would jeopardize our retirement security;
  • Recognize that attacks on our pensions are motivated by greed and ideologies that favor draconian reductions in government.

"With the lagging economy and losses for public pension funds, the attacks on DB pensions has resumed with unprecedented vigor. Those seeking to end or substantially reduce pension benefits are using more sophisticated methods including the Stanford study. We must, and are, countering these attacks, educating both our members and the public."