Measure D - City of Oakland
Shall the measure amending the City Charter to, among other things, expand the eligibility for service on the Board of the Police and Fire Retirement System and reduce the frequency of the Board's mandatory meetings from monthly to no less than quarterly be adopted?Yes Votes Needed to Pass: 50% +1 (majority) of the total votes cast on the measure by eligible voters★★★ IMPORTANT ★★★EXPAND this compressed “About This Race” window (by clicking "Read More") for valuable information. Don't miss it!.MEASURE D ESSENTIALS ☆Placed on the Ballot By: Oakland City CouncilMeasure Type: Charter Amendment"Yes" Votes Needed to Pass: 50% + 1 of the total votes cast on the measure by eligible voters..☆ QUESTION ON THE BALLOT ☆Shall the measure amending the City Charter to, among other things, expand the eligibility for service on the Board of the Police and Fire Retirement System and reduce the frequency of the Board's mandatory meetings from monthly to no less than quarterly be adopted? ☆ WHAT YOUR "YES" OR "NO" VOTE MEANS ☆A “YES” vote is a vote to approve the proposed Charter amendment.A “NO” vote is a vote not to approve the proposed Charter amendment.……………………………………………………………….................................★ LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS ANALYSIS (PROS & CONS) ★Source: The League of Women Voters of Oakland.Other formats: PDF, Video.☆ THE SITUATION ☆· In 1951, Oakland established a system for paying retirement, disability and death benefits to police and fire employees. That system now covers employees who were hired prior to July 1, 1976, and who chose not to transfer to CalPERS.· Seven trustees govern the system. At present, three of the trustees must be retirees covered by the Police and Fire Retirement System. Two of the trustees must be a life insurance executive and a senior bank officer.· Trustees meet in person monthly. The current trustees anticipate that the age and dispersed demographics of the membership may create difficulties in the future in finding persons willing and able to serve as trustees and to attend monthly meetings in person.· The current rules were established by the Charter and any Charter changes must be submitted to the voters.☆ THE PROPOSAL ☆Two changes are proposed:The first changes eligibility requirements for the Board. It would modify the Charter as follows:1) to allow members to elect someone who is not within the system if no qualified retiree is able to serve in the three positions reserved for retirees, and2) to allow persons with prior qualifying experience in insurance and banking in the two positions now reserved for persons active in those roles.The second change is to ease the requirements about the scheduling of meetings by allowing meetings no less frequently than quarterly, although the Board may meet more frequently and could continue to hold special meetings as needed.☆ FISCAL EFFECTS ☆No fiscal impact for the City of Oakland or for taxpayers..☆ SUPPORTERS SAY ☆Supporters include: This measure was placed on the ballot with the support of the 7 members of the City Council of Oakland present at the Council's January 6. 2026 meeting.· Increased flexibility about who may serve as a trustee is a reasonable response to the increasing age and changing demographics of those who are covered by the system.· Increasing flexibility about the frequency of meetings is a reasonable response since monthly meetings may not be needed and would entail unnecessary expense..☆ OPPONENTS SAY ☆Opponents include: No arguments opposing Measure D were submitted to Oakland's City Clerk· ………………………………………………………………................................. ★ OFFICIAL INFORMATION ★The source of this information is documents on the Website of the City of Oakland.☆ BALLOT TITLE ☆PROPOSED MEASURE TO AMEND THE OAKLAND CITY CHARTER TO EXPAND THE ELIGIBILITY FOR SERVICE ON THE BOARD OF THE POLICE AND FIRE RETIREMENT SYSTEM AND REDUCE THE FREQUENCY OF THE BOARD'S MANDATORY MEETINGS.☆ IMPARTIAL LEGAL ANALYSIS ☆This measure would amend Oakland City Charter ("Charter") section 2601 to expand the eligibility for service on the Board of the Police and Fire Retirement System (**PFRS") and reduce the frequency of the Board's mandatory meetings from monthly to no less than quarterly.PFRS is a retirement system for retired City of Oakland police officers and firefighters, and the system was closed to new members in 1976. PFRS is overseen by a PFRS Board consisting of seven members. Currently, three of the seven seats may only be filled by PFRS retirees, including a Police representative elected by PFRS Police members, a Fire representative elected by PFRS Fire members, and an alternating Police or Fire representative elected by the PFRS members from the respective department.The measure would expand eligibility for the PFRS Board by allowing members of PFRS to elect any qualified individual to serve as a Police or Fire representative if no PFRS retiree were able to serve in the seat. Thus, eligibility for the three PFRS Board seats reserved for Police and Fire representatives would no longer be limited to PFRS retirees. Police members of PFRS would continue to elect the Police representatives. Fire members of PFRS would continue to elect the Fire representatives.Two of the seven PFRS Board seats are reserved for a life insurance executive of a local office and a senior officer of a local bank. These seats are recommended by the Mayor and appointed by the City Council. The measure would also expand eligibility for the seats for a life insurance executive of a local office and a senior officer of a local bank to include people with prior experience in those roles. These changes would make retired people and others with the requisite prior experience eligible to serve on the Board, even if they are not currently working as a life insurance executive or a senior bank officer.The measure would also reduce the frequency of the Board's mandatory regular meetings from monthly to no less than quarterly. The Board would be allowed to meet more frequently than quarterly if it chose to, and the President of the Board would continue to be allowed to call special meetings at any time.This measure was placed on the ballot by the Oakland City Council. The measure will take effect only if a majority of voters voting on this measure vote yes. Ryan Richardson City Attorney☆ IMPARTIAL FINANCIAL ANALYSIS ☆SummaryThis ballot measure proposes to amend the City Charter (Article XXVI Section 2601) to expand the eligibility for board members of the Police and Fire Retirement System Board (PFRS) and to change the board meeting frequency from monthly to no less than quarterly. PFRS is a closed single employer pension plan that covers retirement allowance, disability, and death benefits for public safety employees hired prior to July 1976. The Police and Fire Retirement Board is made up of seven trustees who are responsible for protecting and investing the PFRS pension fund. As of August 31, 2025, there were 588 members receiving benefits through the PFRS pension plan.Financial AnalysisIf this ballot measure passes there will be no fiscal impact to the City of Oakland or the taxpayer. Board members serve without compensation and support from City staff will remain approximately the same.Information in our independent analysis is based on the best information available at the time of this analysis. MICHAEL C. HOUSTON City Auditor☆ FULL TEXT OF THE MEASURE ☆The full text of the measure may be found on this page of the City of Oakland's Website. Choose Measure D, and scroll down to page 6, Attachment 1
