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California

California has two main public pension systems: the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS).

The CalPERS board represents state, school, and public agency employees, as well as some judges and legislators, and consists of 13 members: 4 Ex Officio (State Controller, State Treasurer, State Department of Human Resources, State Personnel Board); 2 appointed by the Governor; 1 appointed jointly by the Senate Rules Committee and Speaker of the Assembly; 6 elected by public pensioners.
- CalPERS discloses its specific proxy voting records on this website.
- According to a 2024 document, CalPERS’s investment consultant is Wilshire Associates.
The CalSTRS board represents public school teachers and consists of 12 members: 3 member-elected positions representing current educators; 1 retired CalSTRS member appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate; 3 public representatives appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate; 1 school board representative appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, 4 Ex Officio board members (Director of Finance, State Controller, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, State Treasurer).
- CalSTRS discloses its specific proxy voting records on this website.
- According to a 2024 document, CalSTRS’s investment consultant is Meketa.

California uses Glass Lewis for its proxy advisory services.

The “By Asset Manager” and “Asset Manager Voting” tables show the proxy voting records of the state’s asset managers who manage the pensions’ stock market portfolio through index, exchange-traded, or mutual funds. Since these are externally managed funds, the asset managers typically retain and exercise proxy voting privileges. This data is used to calculate the state’s pro-ESG and anti-ESG scores to see how the state leverages its externally managed funds in proxy voting.

The “State Voting” table shows the state’s proxy voting records for directly owned securities through pension fund portfolios. The 1792 Exchange commends California for publicly disclosing this information online for its pensioners.

Both tables are important to show a comprehensive picture of the state’s proxy voting record.

By Asset Manager

AQR Funds