An appeals court ruled this morning that Sacramento County's retirement system must turn over pension data requested by The Bee.

Amid public outcry about government pensions, The Bee and the First Amendment Coalition went to court to force the Sacramento County Employees' Retirement System (SCERS) to reveal the pension benefits of retirees.

After Superior Court Judge Allen H. Sumner ruled against SCERS' bid to keep the information private, the pension system petitioned the 3rd District Court of Appeal to overturn the lower court's decision.

But a three-justice panel of the appellate court said today in a 49-page opinion that SCERS "must disclose names and corresponding pension benefits amounts of its members. This does not include the members' home or email addresses, telephone numbers or Social Security numbers."

Karl Olson, an attorney representing The Bee, said this is the first appeals court decision on the issue. Previously, trial courts in Sacramento and six other counties have ruled in favor of releasing information about public retirement plans.

The dispute was over the release of the names of county pensioners. The retirement system argued that releasing the names violated the 1937 law that created pension systems in Sacramento and other counties.

The Bee and the First Amendment Coalition contended it's difficult if not impossible without having names to determine cases of pension spiking or favorable treatment -- such as nepotism -- that helped boost retiree payouts.

The court today pointed out that the California Supreme Court has held that "the public has a general right to know the names and salaries of public officials and employees under the Public Record Act.

Richard Stensrud, chief executive officer of the retirement association, is out of the office today and not immediately available to comment.

The Sacramento County supervisors in July had urged SCERS to not appeal its case to the appellate court, voting unanimously for the retirement system to make public the pension information.

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Call The Bee's Brad Branan, (916) 321-1065.