A California appeals court has ordered Sacramento County’s retirement system to release pension data to the Sacramento Bee. The Bee and the First Amendment Coalition had brought a lawsuit to reveal data about the pension benefits ncluding the names and benefits of individual members.
Said Joyce Terhaar of The Bee, “It’s part of our mission to ensure there’s public scrutiny of government spending. We’ve been reporting for several years that local governments are facing higher pension costs even as they’re cutting public services. In all that reporting, the Sacramento County retirement system was the only system to refuse us key information. We believe this clearly should be available to the public and are glad the court agreed.” -db
From the Sacramento Bee, May 12, 2011, by Brad Branan.