CalPERS & CalSTRS Investments in Russia - CalPERS Mtgs Mar 14-16!

CalPERS, CalSTRS investments – Notice of CalPERS meetings this week!

I am running for CA State Assembly District 21 to replace Kevin Mullins. Since this is not a federal office, conventional wisdom is that I should only focus on things that are important to California, and should not take a position on international events like Russia's invasion of Ukraine, or sanctions against Putin's government.

But that ignores the fact that California is the fifth largest economy in the world and has major investments at risk, and should take a stand against this horrible atrocity. The California Public Employees retirement system (CalPERS) has one billion (yes one BILLION ) in Russian assets and the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) had investments of about 800 million last June. So what are they doing about this? And what are our legislators doing?

Unfortunately, while there was some talk about two weeks ago about an emergency bill to be authored by Senator Mike McGuire from Healdsburg and co-authored by a mix of Democrats and Republicans that would have required both state pension fund to divest their holdings, progress seems to be stalled. What exactly are they waiting for?

As the Sacramento Bee reported: “Theresa Taylor, the president of the retirement system’s board of directors, said Monday that she expects the board will discuss divestment from Russia at its upcoming meeting, scheduled March 14 to 16. ‘While I am personally appalled at Russia’s actions, and every pension has holdings in Russia differently, ours are half in public equities and half in private equity and real assets,’ Taylor said in a text. ‘In public markets, access to sell the Russian assets is closed right now due to sanctions. As to the other half, as fiduciaries we really have to look if we can afford to just get rid of those assets.’”

Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article258866858.html#storylink=cpy

If your legislators can’t do the job they were elected to do, maybe you should plan to attend the scheduled meetings either in person or online to be held this week March 14-16!

https://www.calpers.ca.gov/page/about/board/board-meetings

And just as importantly make sure to vote for a candidate that reflects your same concerns.

In fact why are we investing in Russia, or for that matter Poland or Italy or China or anywhere else in the world, when so much needs to be done in California and can be done in a way that both makes a profit and benefits ordinary Californians?

I work in developing green energy (in my professional work harnessing wave power) to reduce our dependence on Russian oil and other fossil fools which are leading to skyrocketing prices hurting Californians at the pump. Sustainability is critical to California's ability to prosper.

I am also an advocate for truly affordable housing for all and not developer giveaways that claim to do that while in fact just increasing gentrification and displacement. How about instead CalPERS invests in building affordable housing to sell to low-income Californians with long-term low-interest loans? Much of our population is priced out of housing, can't get private financing, and can't afford the expensive housing developers like to build.

I welcome your support. Please visit my campaign website at vwww.taniasole.com or email me at tania@taniasole.com

For videos of meetings: https://www.youtube.com/CalPER...