California’s public pension system paid out $34.6 billion to retirees last fiscal year, with more than 63,000 former government workers collecting six-figure annual benefits and three dozen top recipients each receiving over $300,000.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the largest public pension fund in the United States, now counts 63,107 retirees in the $100,000-plus club, more than double the 26,000 who hit that threshold in 2018 and a staggering leap from the 1,841 six-figure pensions recorded in 2005. The top earner last year was Curtis Ishii, 74, a former managing investment director for fixed income at CalPERS itself, who collected $462,784 after retiring in 2018 with more than 40 years in public service.
His final paycheck in 2017 reached $688,000, and government pensions are calculated using a formula based on annual salary and years of service. Investment officers rank among the highest-paid California state employees.
Michael D. Johnson, a former Solano County administrator, received $426,028 last year after becoming county administrator in 1992 at age 43 with 19 years of public sector experience. His gross pay in 2010, his last full year with the county, was $354,197, and his pension has grown through annual cost-of-living increases applied by CalPERS. He previously topped the list with a $372,000 pension in 2019.
Steve Maguin, who spent 23 years in solid waste management and served as chief engineer and general manager of Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, received $418,614 last year despite a 2012 salary of $125,693. Maguin retired in 2012 and passed away in January, according to a LinkedIn post. “I talked with him not long after his retirement and he seemed happy and fulfilled,” one user commented on the news of his death.
The number of beneficiaries earning at least $300,000 jumped from 21 in 2023 to 36 last year, while CalPERS’ total payout rose from $29.1 billion in 2021-22 to $34.6 billion in 2024-25. The system faces a $153 billion shortfall in assets needed to cover promised benefits, the largest single pension debt in the country.
“The system is $153 billion short on assets needed to pay for promised benefits, the largest single pension debt in the country,” Zachary Christensen, who leads the Pension Integrity Project at the Reason Foundation, told The Post. “The growing number of retirees receiving lavish public pension benefits in California rightfully frustrates taxpayers and will likely worsen in the years ahead,” he added.
The pension surge traces directly to a 1999 law signed by former Democratic Governor Gray Davis that significantly increased public pension benefits for state employees and made more lucrative calculations retroactive. Davis approved the expansion when CalPERS was flush with cash, with the system assuring lawmakers there would be no cost due to booming stock market returns and investment strategies.
“If I knew then what I know now, I would never have signed SB 400,” Davis said in 2012, referring to the law.
Economic crises from the dot-com bubble to the Great Recession erased that optimism. Annual government contributions to CalPERS exploded from $1.6 billion in 1999 to $26.7 billion this fiscal year. Christensen blamed Davis and the 1999 legislature for the long-term fallout. “The impact of this decision has played out over decades; workers who were just getting started in their careers at the time are now reaching retirement and cashing in on their sweetened CalPERS benefits,” he said.
Local governments have absorbed the strain. Santa Barbara County Supervisor Bob Nelson, who also benefits from CalPERS, told lawmakers last year that his county pays an extra $100 million annually to keep up with rising pensions. “In the 1990s and the early 2000s, similar pension packages nearly bankrupted this state and many of our local municipalities,” he said. “Those payments came at real costs: Reductions to pay public safety staffing and fewer resources to address mental health, homelessness and criminal justice reform,” he added.
Dr. Jeffrey Goodrich, a professor with UCLA’s Financial Management Program and a wealth advisor at JCG Private Wealth Management, said the rising pension totals stem from more people maximizing benefits through longer public service careers and higher salaries feeding the pension formula. “That has been the question that has been discussed for years and years in all public sector jobs,” he said. “They’re supported by the communities or the state, or the cities, or the municipalities, and those numbers are getting bigger and bigger all the time, and they’ve reached tremendous sums.”
Some recipients have moved into private sector roles without fully retiring. Several top beneficiaries now hold non-government positions, including leadership posts at industry associations.
A 2013 law tying public pensions to IRS limits may eventually curb massive payouts, but workers who qualified under pre-2013 rules will continue retiring for years. Christensen estimated large payouts will persist for at least another decade before the first cohort affected by the 2013 reforms reaches retirement age. Unions, a major political force in Sacramento, continue pushing for increases.
Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill last month that would have expanded pension benefits for police officers and firefighters. “This is an era of California history I do not wish to repeat,” Newsom wrote in his veto statement, citing the pension crisis before the 2013 law.
“Very strong unions make sure their members get the compensation they deserve, and you’re hoping that the city, or the municipalities, or the counties have good negotiators on their side,” Goodrich said. “That’s an unknown factor to say, can we do this forever, and the answer is I don’t know,” he added.