The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) is set to vote next week on cutting benefits for a small group of retirees in what would be the second such move in the last four months, Bloomberg News reported today. The reduced benefits, which must be approved by a committee on Tuesday and the full board yesterday, was triggered by the failure of a defunct public agency, the East San Gabriel Valley Human Services Consortium, to pay CalPERS the entire cost of covering the pensions of its former employees. Most of the 191 workers of the job-training service — of which 62 are currently receiving pensions — would see their benefits reduced by 63 percent, the rate by which the agency fell short, according to meeting documents. CalPERS had asked the cities that formed the agency known locally as LA Works — Azusa, Covina, Glendora, and West Covina — to pay the debt to the retirement plan, but they declined, pointing to the lack of a legal obligation. The consortium went out of business in 2014 after Los Angeles County severed its relationship, citing overbilling.
