Placement Agent Law Clean-Up Amendments Introduced
As I mentioned in this March 11 posting, Senator Ed Hernandez has introduced a bill, SB 398, that is intended to clean-up some of the many questions arising under legislation, AB 1743, that was enacted last session. In general, AB 1743 requires placement agents for investment funds and advisers seeking access to CalPERS or other California public retirement systems to register as lobbyists. Numerous Read more...
Broker-Dealer Safe Harbor Rule Nears Adoption
In 2007, the California Court of Appeal fired what I called at the time “a shot not heard” when it issued its opinion in People v. Cole, 156 Cal. App. 4th 452 (2007). Seemingly, a key holding of that case was that corporate officers and directors of issuers are required to be licensed as broker-dealers unless they receive a commission Read more...
Bill To Amend Placement Agent Law Introduced
As discussed in this posting from last October, the legislature enacted AB 1743 to require placement agents for funds and advisers seeking access to CalPERS or other California public retirement systems to register as lobbyists. Although I had commented on the bill, I was less than pleased with the final product. Senator Ed Hernandez, who authored AB 1743, recently introduced Read more...
“Shut, Shut The Door, Good John!” Bill Introduced To Close Revolving Pension Fund Door
Last week in this post, I wrote about the California Controller John Chiang’s announced intention to sponsor legislation to shut the revolving door between California’s two largest public retirement systems, CalPERS and CalSTRS, and the private sector. Last week, Assemblyman Warren Furutani introduced AB 873. Below is the Legislative Counsel’s description of the bill: This bill would prohibit an individual, who was a Read more...
Controller To Sponsor Bills Aimed At Influence Peddling At CalPERS And CalSTRS
On February 3, 2011, California Controller John Chiang sent this letter to Rob Feckner, Chairman of the California Public Employees Retirement System. The Controller is an ex officio member of the CalPERS Board of Administration. The first bill would reduce the annual gift allowance under California’s Political Reform Act from $450 to $50. According to the Controller’s letter, this reduction Read more...
CalPERS’ Placement Agent Investigators Admit Cooperation With The SEC and Prosecutors
On Wednesday, February 16, 2011, the Board of Administration of the California Public Employees Retirement System will consider proposed steps to implement the twelve recommendations resulting from a special review by an outside law firm of placement agent activities. These recommendations were presented to the Board of Administration at its December, 2010 meeting. According to this memorandum prepared by the Read more...
OAL Approves CalPERS’ Placement Agent Disclosure Regulation / Bill Introduced To Require Ethnic And Gender Reporting By CalSTRS & CalPERS
More than a year ago, I petitioned the California Public Employees Retirement System to adopt placement agent disclosure regulations in accordance with the California Administrative Procedure Act. Last Friday, the California Office of Administrative Law approved CalPERS’ proposed regulation. The new regulation is codified at 2 CCR § 559. The regulation will take effect on filing with the California Secretary of State in accordance with Government Code § 11343.4 Read more...
Bits and Pieces
Another California Pay-to-Play Story? Tom Petruno, a reporter with the Los Angeles Times, recently wrote that the Financial Industry Regulatory Organization has sent letters to the members of a California municipal bond trade association seeking information about payments made by those members to the association. According to the story, several major brokerage firms are members of the association. Chapman University Read more...
Where Are CalPERS’ Placement Agent Disclosure Regulations?
In September 2009, I submitted a petition to the California Office of Administrative Law (OAL) for a determination that CalPERS’ placement agent disclosure guidelines constituted illegal, underground regulations. Although the OAL accepted my petition, CalPERS short circuited a determination by certifying that it would not enforce its guidelines. My position was not that CalPERS should not have disclosure guidelines but Read more...
