The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) provides pension fund and other retirement services for 1.4 million California public employees. As of December 2005, it owns 200 billion dollars worth of stock, bonds, funds, and private equity. It is the largest pension fund in the United States. A pension (also known as superannuation) is a retirement plan intended to provide a person with a secure income for life. ... Look up December in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

CalPERS shareholder proposals

Being one of the largest owners in the world, CalPERS has attempted to use this power to change the way certain things are done in business. For example:

• Demanding companies disclose their Y2k readiness
• Calling on companies which operate in offshore havens to repatriate to the United States
• Calling for reform in executive compensation, especially Golden Parachutes
• Suing the NYSE over allegations that their specialists (floor workers) engage in practices which hurt investors

The year 2000 problem (also known as the Y2K problem and the millennium bug) was a flaw in computer program design that caused some date-related processing to operate incorrectly for dates and times on and after January 1, 2000. ... Executive compensation is how top executives of business corporations are paid. ... A Golden Parachute is a clause in the contract of a CEO or other executive officers of a corporation, that if the corporation is acquired it pays them a certain amount of money, or stock options. ... New York Stock Exchange (June 2003) The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is one of the largest stock exchanges in the world. ...

Praise and Criticism

CalPERS has been both praised and criticized by some for its shareholder activism. Many feel that the organization has well represented the will of the employees whose pensions it manages by pushing for a wide array of causes, ranging from greater fiscal responsibility to social justice. Some others argue that this unduly interferes with business, is backed by a political agenda (citing the dominance of Democrats on CalPERS' board - which could be said to counterbalance a Republican agenda to not interfere with business at the potentially severe environmental, social and quality-of-life costs), and further encourages the belief that California is "anti-business". The recent director of CalPERS, Sean Harrigan, was removed from his position in December 2004, amid charges that his departure was politically motivated and done at the bidding of powerful corporate lobbyists. The Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States, the other one being the Republican Party. ...