Public pensions

A preliminary 9.3% return on investments in the year ending June 30 brought CalPERS' funded ratio to 75%, the public pension fund reported.

Pension analysts are calling for higher contributions even as financial conditions improve.

Houston and other Texas cities face financial pressure caused by weather disasters, public safety salaries and pensions, or capped property tax collections.

The agency cited a sustained commitment to healthy reserves and structural balance.

Chicago released a budget forecast that its corporate fund deficit will grow to $982.4 million in 2025 from $222.9 million at 2024's end.

In this episode, Howard Cure, Director of Municipal Bond Research at Evercore Wealth Management, discusses the improving state of public pensions, the ongoing challenges faced by states like New Jersey and Illinois, and the risks associated with pension obligation bonds.

Months after the SEC approved several spot bitcoin exchange-traded product shares, a number of Midwest public pension funds are dabbling in crypto investments.

The city's pensions funds for police officers, fire fighters, teachers, civil employees and school personnel, with a combined $274 billion in assets, returned 10% in the year through June, beating their 7% target, according to a news release Thursday from city Comptroller Brad Lander.

Public pensions are averaging a significantly improved 80.6% funded ratio, but took on riskier investments to obtain higher returns, which would be problematic in a market correction.

Ohio legislators are mulling a bill that would bar the state's pension systems, universities and Bureau of Workers' Compensation from pursuing ESG investing.

Officials in East St. Louis, Illinois, sued the local police and firefighter pension boards and the state comptroller to block the use of an intercept law.

Unfunded public pension liabilities have dropped more than 60%, or $3 trillion, from the peak in 2020, according to a new Moody's Ratings report.

The Illinois state comptroller reported a 55% year-over-year increase in the general revenue fund cash balance as her office closed fiscal 2024.

J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday signed Illinois' $53.1 billion fiscal year 2025 budget, which includes $198 million for the rainy day fund, among other things.

Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago's finance team talked up the Windy City's economy and talked up bond sale plans at an event for municipal bond investors.

Fitch said Illinois has to resolve questions on Tier 2 pension benefits, and fixing Tier 2's failure to meet IRS safe harbor provisions would be credit neutral.

A state judge issued a temporary injunction against enforcement of the Energy Discrimination Elimination Act, which has led to the ban of seven financial firms, including four big municipal bond underwriters, from government contracts.

The California Supreme Court will hear a case challenging the state's 2013 pension changes, after seemingly settling the issue with a 2020 ruling.

Since war broke out on Oct. 7 between Israel and Hamas, over $1.64 billion of Israel bonds have been sold to more than 35 U.S. states, counties, cities and municipalities.

The University of Chicago's Harris School Policy Innovation Challenge is a "Shark Tank"-style competition in which eight teams took on Chicago's pension problem.