Administration August 5, 2003

Angelides Pushing Tough Bank Standards

May 8, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - California Treasurer Phil Angelides is putting the finishing touches on new rules governing how investment banks do business with the state.
Reported by

The rules Angelides is expected to announce would require the banks to follow guidelines modeled on the recent $1.4- billion settlement with Wall Street firms accused of issuing tainted stock research.   Overall, the guidelines would extend to the more than 100 investment banks and affect tens of millions of dollars in underwriting and other business, according to a Reuters report citing an unnamed Treasury office official.

California did at least $170 billion in financing business in 2002 through investment and bond issues. Although specifics on the new rules were not immediately available, the guidelines will go beyond those contained in the deal last month between Wall Street firms and regulators that settled an investigation into conflicts of interests at the investment firms.

For more stories like this, sign up for the PLANSPONSOR NEWSDash daily newsletter.

Under the terms of the Wall Street settlement:

  • financial firms will have to physically separate their research and investment banking departments
  • analysts will be barred from pitch meetings with clients to win underwriting business
  • interaction between analysts and investment bankers will be chaperoned by compliance officers.

Once released to the state, Angelides is also expected to bring his proposal to the two giant pension funds where he sits on the board of directors: California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS).

In his position as both the state treasurer and board member, Angelides has long sought to prod the nation’s first and third biggest public pension funds into adopting reform policies (See  A Call to Action ). In March, for example, he unveiled a plan to combine the resources of the two funds to create an office charged with pushing aggressive corporate and market reforms to deal with scandals that have socked investors with huge losses.

Benefits August 4, 2003

California Legislature Seeks Unified Health-Care Bill

August 4, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A new conference committee in the California legislature has been charged with drafting a compromise bill of four different health-care proposals in an effort to expand coverage to uninsured residents.
Reported by

Members of the state’s legislature are concerned that unless provisions of the four separate bills are unified, fracturing among the voting delegates will result in no health-care bill going through for the legislature’s approval by the time it adjourns in September, according to a Sacramento Biz Journal report.

Get more!  Sign up for PLANSPONSOR newsletters.

However, the committee is not working from scratch. Among the four bills that will be used as a basis for the compromise legislation:

  • SB 2 – would require employers to provide health benefits to workers and their dependents or pay into a state fund as part of a public-private financing system for expanded health care coverage (See CA State Senator Wants Workers To Have Insurance ).
  • AB 1527 – similar to SB 2, but initially exempts small employers.
  • AB 1528 – uses the same approach as SB 2, but would require individuals without insurance to buy it. In addition, it establishes a government subsidy program for individuals and small employers who cannot afford it (See Universal Healthcare in California Proposed ).
  • SB 921 – establishes a “single payer” state-run insurance program to replace existing coverage.

«