CalPERS pension after divorce? + Sacramento’s marijuana kingpin + Return of the individual mandate
Good morning and happy Thursday! Andrew Sheeler here with the morning alert.
WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR PENSION IN A DIVORCE
Ralph Johnson got married a year and a half before he retired from the Alameda County Fire Department.
Twelve years later, in 2011, he filed for divorce. In the proceedings that followed, his ex-wife was found to be entitled to less than 1 percent of his CalPERS pension.
He was surprised to learn that her small share of the pension had a much bigger implication: He couldn’t remove her as the plan’s beneficiary. If he dies before she does, she will start receiving a large portion of the pension, said Johnson, 72, of Lincoln.
“I just went, ‘wow,’” he said.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement Law in most cases prevents people with public pensions from changing their beneficiary if they divorce after retirement, even if an ex-spouse is entitled to only a tiny fraction.
As the rate of “gray divorce” rises among people over 55, more retirees with public pensions likely are trying to figure out what happens to their pensions upon divorce.
It’s complicated.
Read the full story from Wes Venteicher here. Also, look out for Johnson in the Capitol. The retired firefighter is calling lawmakers about his predicament.
THE KING OF SACRAMENTO WEED
On a spring evening in 2001, Garib Karapetyan, 17, was lying on the ground outside a Rancho Cordova auto parts store, bleeding from a large stab wound in his right leg after a brawl.
Two decades later, he’s the king of Sacramento’s $142 million-a-year legalized retail cannabis industry.
Karapetyan is the quiet leader of the city’s largest marijuana empire, wealthy enough to purchase a $1.1 million condominium in the Sawyer Hotel near Golden 1 Center. He is a part owner of eight Sacramento storefront pot dispensaries, and his four main business partners control a ninth.
Together they operate nearly one-third of the 30 retail dispensaries allowed by the city, giving them a commanding presence in Sacramento’s legal marijuana industry. They’ve managed to thrive despite fierce competition from both legal and illegal pot vendors, the illegality of marijuana under federal law, and a thicket of city and state regulations.
The 36-year-old Karapetyan also holds the permit for a manufacturing business in Sacramento and has applied for permits for at least four cultivation facilities here, according to city officials. He and his partners have been the main drivers behind a Sacramento pot industry association whose advisory committee includes the head of the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.
The past few weeks, though, have brought Karapetyan and his four main partners, all of them residents of the Sacramento area, a flurry of unwanted publicity.
The Sacramento Bee revealed that a partner in one of Karapetyan’s Sacramento pot dispensaries is Andrey Kukushkin, a Ukrainian-born businessman who has been charged — along with three men, including two associates of President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani — in an illegal campaign finance scheme.
Prosecutors said the four men secretly funneled foreign campaign donations to American politicians as part of a plan to jump into the cannabis business in the United States. Giuliani’s two associates, meanwhile, have been linked to the impeachment case against Trump.
State records show Karapetyan and Kukushkin also are partners in a management company. City records show the two men are working to open cultivation sites and a home-delivery cannabis company in Sacramento.
In addition, following The Bee’s reporting, city officials have begun reviewing policies that allowed Karapetyan and his partners to gain such a firm grip on the city’s retail pot industry, despite a city ordinance that prohibits dispensary permits from being transferred or sold.
Finally, the FBI is investigating whether city officials took bribes from Sacramento pot investors, although there are no allegations that Karapetyan or his partners have done anything wrong.
Karapetyan declined to be interviewed, telling The Bee that its previous reporting on his dispensaries was “not very accurate.” He declined to say how so. He added, “I’ve been advised by counsel not to discuss anything with the media in the current environment.”
Read the full story from Theresa Clift, Dale Kasler and Ryan Sabalow here.
A NEW HEALTH INSURANCE MANDATE
On Jan. 1, it will be the law in California to have health insurance. If you don’t, you’ll pay a financial penalty. For a family of four, that penalty could be $2,000 or more, according to Covered California.
“Open enrollment is underway right now. That means now is the time to sign up for a quality health plan through Covered California so you are protected in case you get sick or injured, and so you do not have to worry about a possible penalty,” said Covered California Executive Director Peter V. Lee in prepared remarks. “Writing a check to the Franchise Tax Board when you file your 2020 taxes isn’t the real penalty — it’s getting hurt or ill and ending up with $50,000 hospital bill.”
The new law means that California retains a mandate to have health insurance, even though a federal appeals court struck down the mandate required by the Affordable Care Act.
“The court ruling will not impact California and should not deter anyone from signing up during the current open-enrollment period,” Lee said. “The legal battle will continue for the foreseeable future, and Covered California will be working to educate people about the penalty and enroll as many as possible.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Yes, actually I do. It’s framed in my Capitol office - proudly displayed. Anyone who is interested can come by and see it.”
- Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, via Twitter. Gonzalez says she has it in writing that she has been banned from entering any Wal-Mart store.
Best of the Bee:
The hedge funds attempting a hostile takeover of PG&E Corp. are trying to get their plan back on track. And they realize their best chance of doing that is to make California Gov. Gavin Newsom happy, by Dale Kasler.
If you see a dead animal in the road, don’t pick it up. You can’t eat it — at least not yet. State wildlife officials issued a public warning Monday that it remains illegal in California to pluck dead animals off the road, even if they are fresh roadkill and look tasty, by Tony Bizjak.
One of the broadest gun control measures signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom this year will prevent Californians from buying more than one semi-automatic rifle per month, and raise the minimum age to purchase a high-powered rifle to 21, by Will Coburn and Milan Cabebe.
