Month: April 2021

A new use for Confederate pension tax

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://dothaneagle.com/opinion/editorial/a-new-use-for-confederate-pension-tax/article_69cfe562-9bc8-11eb-9169-47823e1bbef8.html

Excerpt:

It will likely surprise most Alabama property owners that 156 years after the Civil War, they’re still paying a tax implemented to fund pensions for Confederate soldiers and their widows.

It’s safe to say that its original purpose has run its course. The last Confederate widow in Alabama, Alberta Martin of Elba, died in 2004. She had begun drawing a Confederate pension in 1996 after two local men learned that she wasn’t receiving the benefit.

However, it’s a rare occurrence when an implemented tax is removed, and the portion of the ad valorem assessment that feeds the Confederate pension fund has continued since its inception. Most of the money is diverted to other uses, but a portion — about $500,000 — was carved out to fund the Confederate Memorial Park in Mountain Creek, a state facility created in 1964 at the site of a former Confederate veterans home as “a shrine to the honor of Alabama’s citizens of the Confederacy.”

Author(s): Bill Perkins

Publication Date: 12 April 2021

Publication Site: Dothan Eagle

GPIF treads water as ESG picks up pace

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.pionline.com/pension-funds/gpif-treads-water-esg-picks-pace

Excerpt:

The world’s largest pension fund had charted a course for sustainable investing, but the Government Pension Investment Fund, Tokyo, is now treading water.

After taking the helm of the world’s biggest pension fund as CIO in 2015, Hiromichi Mizuno sought to turn GPIF into a fund that — as one Harvard Business Review article put it — tried to “change the world” through its approach to environmental, social and governance investing.

However, the $1.63 trillion fund — constrained by stricter legal restraints than its peers — has largely been quiet on impact investing since Mr. Mizuno was succeeded in April 2020 by Eiji Ueda. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the global push toward ESG themes and GPIF’s peers around the world have cut fossil-fuel investments and threatened to pull funds from firms that fail to meet ethical standards.

Author(s): Bloomberg

Publication Date: 12 April 2021

Publication Site: Pensions & Investments

New York pension fund divests $7 million from Canadian oil sands firms

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-york-pension-oil-sands/new-york-pension-fund-divests-7-million-from-canadian-oil-sands-firms-idUSKBN2BZ1UT?il=0

Excerpt:

New York’s state pension fund is restricting investment in six Canadian oil sands companies because they have not shown they are prepared for a transition to a low-carbon future, the fund’s Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said on Monday.

The New York State Common Retirement Fund will divest more than $7 million in securities already held in the companies, and not make any further investments in them, DiNapoli said in a statement.

Canada’s oil sands hold the world’s third-largest crude reserves and have some of the highest emissions intensity per barrel, due to the carbon-intensive production process of extracting tar-like bitumen from the ground.

Author(s): Nia Williams

Publication Date: 12 April 2021

Publication Site: Reuters

Moody’s: New Chicago firefighter pension law is “credit negative”

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://capitolfax.com/2021/04/12/moodys-new-chicago-firefighter-pension-law-is-credit-negative/

Excerpt:

House Bill 2451 eliminates a formula based on birth date that provided lower pension COLAs to certain retired firefighters. As a result of the new law, all retirees that are considered “Tier 1” members of the FABF will now receive a 3% COLA annually on their pension, with no cumulative cap. Before House Bill 2451, retired firefighters in Tier 1 would have received a 1.5% COLA, subject to a 30% cumulative cap, if born on or after January 1, 1966. Members of the FABF receive Tier 1 benefits if hired before January 1, 2011, while those hired on or after January 1, 2011 receive less generous Tier 2 pension benefits.

One potentially advantageous effect of House Bill 2451 is that it forces immediate recognition of 3% COLAs for Tier 1 members. The state law governing Chicago firefighter pension COLAs has been amended on several occasions in the past to alter the birth date that would determine eligibility of a Tier 1 retiree for a 3% COLA versus a 1.5% COLA. The most recent such change occurred in 2016, when the law was updated to provide a 3% COLA to all Tier 1 firefighters born before January 1, 1966, compared to January 1, 1955, before the change. That change, in addition to several other provisions, triggered a roughly $227 million (4.5%) increase to the actuarial accrued liability reported by the FABF as of the December 2016 actuarial snapshot.

Author(s): Rich Miller

Publication Date: 12 April 2021

Publication Site: Capitol Fax

New York’s wealthiest look for exits as state readies hefty tax increase

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/08/new-yorks-wealthiest-look-for-exits-as-state-readies-hefty-tax-increase-.html

Excerpt:

New York’s top business leaders are gearing up for a potential mass exodus as Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers prepare to raise their taxes.

With the state budget set to increase the personal income tax on the wealthiest New Yorkers as well as hiking corporate taxes, some executives who fled the city for Florida temporarily due to coronavirus pandemic lockdowns are considering permanent relocation, according to business leaders briefed on the matter.

Wealthy business leaders who have historically resisted moving at least some of their resources to Florida or other less-taxed states explained to CNBC that they are now seriously reconsidering as working from home becomes the norm, allowing more flexibility.

Author(s): Brian Schwartz

Publication Date: 8 April 2021

Publication Site: CNBC

US suicides dropped amid coronavirus, defying pandemic expectations

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.foxnews.com/health/us-suicides-dropped-amid-coronavirus-defying-pandemic-expectations

Excerpt:

The number of U.S. suicides fell nearly 6% last year amid the coronavirus pandemic — the largest annual decline in at least four decades, according to preliminary government data.

Death certificates are still coming in and the count could rise. But officials expect a substantial decline will endure, despite worries that COVID-19 could lead to more suicides.

….

U.S. suicides steadily rose from the early 2000s until 2018, when the national suicide rate hit its highest level since 1941. The rate finally fell slightly in 2019. Experts credited increased mental health screenings and other suicide prevention efforts.

The number fell further last year, to below 45,000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a recent report. It was the lowest number of U.S. suicide deaths since 2015.

Author(s): Associated Press

Publication Date: 9 April 2021

Publication Site: Fox News

Funded Levels of Canadian DB Plans Climb to 20-Year High

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.ai-cio.com/news/funded-levels-canadian-db-plans-climb-20-year-high/

Excerpt:

Thanks to surging bond prices, Canadian defined benefit (DB) pension plans ended the first quarter of this year at their highest funded levels in more than 20 years, according to Mercer. However, the asset manager and consulting firm warns that the lofty funded positions might not last, depending on the trajectory of interest rates, inflation expectations, and equity market performance.

Mercer’s Pension Health Index, which tracks the solvency ratio of a hypothetical DB pension plan, increased to 124% at the end of March from 114% at the end of 2020. That is the index’s highest level since it was launched in 1999. Meanwhile, the median solvency ratio of the pension plans of Mercer clients was 104% as of the end of March, up from 96% at the end of December.

Long bond yields jumped 77 basis points (bps) during the quarter to lower the plans’ liabilities and more than offset the negative returns reported by many pension funds during the period.

Author(s): Michael Katz

Publication Date: 12 April 2021

Publication Site: ai-CIO

The New Kentucky Investment Chief Just Got a 41% Pay Boost

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.ai-cio.com/news/new-kentucky-investment-chief-just-got-41-pay-boost/

Excerpt:

The new investment chief at the Kentucky Public Pensions Authority (KPPA) has received a 41% boost to his base salary. The hike comes after the plan’s board members this week approved a motion to lift the pay ceiling for top investment officials at the retirement system. 

Board members are hoping the compensation changes will help the underfunded pension plan hold on to KPPA CIO Steven Herbert. He started in January at the $20 billion retirement system, just as it is undergoing a complete rebranding and overhaul of its operations. KPPA was formerly known as the Kentucky Retirement Systems. 

Starting this month, Herbert can earn $235,000 annually, not including incentive pay, up from $167,000 per year. Steve M. Willer, the deputy executive director of investments, who is effectively the DCIO, can earn $190,000 per year, up from $165,000 annually. 

Author(s): Sarah Min

Publication Date: 9 April 2021

Publication Site: ai-CIO

Pension Reform in our Time? What Butch Lewis Means for Multiemployer Plans and Participating Employers

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.seyfarth.com/dir_docs/publications/Webinar-Deck-Pension-Reform-Butch-Lewis-032421.pdf

Graphic:

Excerpt:

Conditions on Relief
• Special Financial Assistance funds (and earnings thereon) can be used to make
benefit payments and pay plan expenses
• Must be segregated from other plan assets; invested only in investment-grade
bonds or other investments as permitted by PBGC
• Deemed to be in critical status until the last plan year ending in 2051
• Plans that become insolvent after receiving relief subject to rules for insolvent
plans
• Must reinstate any previously suspended benefits under the MPRA
– Either as lump sum within 3 months or monthly equal installments over 5 years (to
begin within 3 months)
• Not eligible to apply for a new suspension of benefits under the MPRA

Author(s): Alan Cabral, Jim Hlawek, Seong Kim, Ron Kramer

Publication Date: 24 March 2021

Publication Site: Seyfarth

Tui plane in ‘serious incident’ after every ‘Miss’ on board was assigned child’s weight

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/09/tui-plane-serious-incident-every-miss-on-board-child-weight-birmingham-majorca

Excerpt:

A software mistake caused a Tui flight to take off heavier than expected as female passengers using the title “Miss” were classified as children, an investigation has found.

The departure from Birmingham airport to Majorca with 187 passengers on board was described as a “serious incident” by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).

An update to the airline’s reservation system while its planes were grounded due to the coronavirus pandemic led to 38 passengers on the flight being allocated a child’s “standard weight” of 35kg as opposed to the adult figure of 69kg.

Author(s): PA Media

Publication Date: 8 April 2021

Publication Site: The Guardian

China admits its vaccines aren’t very good

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/11/china-covid-vaccines-480802

Excerpt:

In a rare admission of the weakness of Chinese coronavirus vaccines, the country’s top disease control official says their effectiveness is low and the government is considering mixing them to get a boost.

Chinese vaccines “don’t have very high protection rates,” said the director of the China Centers for Disease Control, Gao Fu, at a conference Saturday in the southwestern city of Chengdu.

Author(s): Associated Press

Publication Date: 11 April 2021

Publication Site: Politico

Mortality with Meep: Top Causes of Death in the United States in 2020

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://marypatcampbell.substack.com/p/mortality-with-meep-top-causes-of

Graphic:

Excerpt:

You’ll see that among adults, the age range with the most suicides are people age 50-55. That’s due to two things: the number of people in that age range (early Gen X, so tailing off from Boomers) and the rate. For each age group far more males die by suicide than do females.

You can see that deaths by suicide in number drop off in old age…. but that’s because the population is dropping off in size (as mortality rates accelerate at high ages).

Author(s): Mary Pat Campbell

Publication Date: 12 April 2021

Publication Site: STUMP at substack