The $170 billion California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) has extensive holdings in energy companies. While many of the stocks have earned CalPERS strong returns, energy company gouging has cost working families billions of dollars and contributed to a loss of momentum in California’s economy.
When the state and many local governments saw their energy costs rising, they anticipated eroding budget reserves and threatened CalPERS members with layoffs.
The Pacific Institute for Community Organizing (PICO), a statewide faith-based advocacy organization, also saw energy costs to the state's budget as a threat to their proposal to fund health insurance for low-income working families.
PICO asked Lincoln Crow to assemble information on CalPERS energy investments, to prepare memos on possible courses of action, and to develop a media and coalition strategy.
