California Public Employees' Retirement System (Calpers) announced its postponement of the launching of a database that would make public the details of its members' pension benefits. The move came subsequent to the declaration of three employee groups that they would push lawmakers to withhold the data available through the feature.
The California-based pension fund initially intended to launch the said database in the coming week. However, Calpers is suspending it awaiting the result of the proposed legislation.
The information that would have been made available through the database includes the retirees' names, date of retirement, monthly pension payments, benefit formulas, cost-of-living adjustments, years of service and final compensation.
Amy Noris, spokeswoman for Calpers, claimed that improvement of transparency was the motive behind the database's launch. She also said that the release of the said information upon request is already required by state law.
Noris added that health information, addresses and birth dates of Calpers' members were not included as the California's Public Records Act does not mandate its release.
But the three employee groups consisting of the Retired Public Employees Association, CDF Firefighters and Peace Officers Research Association of California intend to push lawmakers to draft a bill that would at least preclude the retirees' names from being shown in such database.
"We believe in clarity and open government like everyone else but we have to balance privacy interests," CDF Firefighters spokesman Terry McHale said.
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