The $100k Club

Real talk: if you thought your post-grad salary was impressive, wait until you hear what some retired California bureaucrats are raking in. We’re talking about a system where retirees are collecting upwards of $400k a year while doing absolutely nothing. It’s giving major main character energy, but the vibes are seriously off for the rest of the state.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS)—the biggest public pension fund in the U.S.—is currently shelling out $6.3 billion annually to these retirees. As of right now, more than 63,000 former public servants are pulling in at least $100,000 a year. To put that in perspective, that number has more than doubled since 2018. Two decades ago, in 2005, only about 1,800 retirees were in the six-figure club.

Why the math isn't mathing

This isn't just about a few high earners; it’s a full-blown financial crisis. The pension system is facing a $153 billion shortfall, which is basically the largest pension debt in the entire country.

Experts and local officials aren't happy. Santa Barbara County Supervisor Bob Nelson noted that his county is forced to drop an extra $100 million every year just to keep up with rising pension obligations. That’s money that could be going toward public safety, mental health services, or homelessness, but instead, it’s being eaten up by these ballooning payouts.

The origin story

How did we get here? Lowkey, you can point the finger at a 1999 law signed by former Governor Gray Davis. The legislation, known as SB 400, significantly boosted pension benefits. At the time, the stock market was booming, and officials promised it wouldn't cost taxpayers a dime. But after the dot-com bubble and the Great Recession hit, the state realized that was a total L.

"If I knew then what I know now, I would never have signed SB 400," Davis admitted back in 2012.

Who’s cashing in?

The top of the list is pretty wild. Curtis Ishii, a former managing investment director at CalPERS, collected over $462,000 last year. Another top earner, former Solano County administrator Michael D. Johnson, brought in over $426,000.

Even though California passed laws in 2013 to tie pensions to IRS limits and stop the bleeding, it’s not an immediate fix. Many retirees are still on the old, more lucrative plans, meaning these massive checks will likely continue for at least another decade.

Governor Gavin Newsom recently vetoed a bill that would have expanded benefits for police and firefighters, stating he doesn't want to repeat that era of financial history. For now, the unions keep pushing, and the taxpayers keep paying.

Why it matters

When a pension system is $153 billion in the hole, it’s the community that suffers. Every dollar funneled into these massive, retroactive payouts is a dollar taken away from essential local services like emergency response and housing support. It’s a classic case of the system being built for the few while the many deal with the consequences.