CalPERS to Vote on Shareholder Measures

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System will vote next week on measures aimed at making sure companies keep shareholder interests in mind when they set executive compensation.

The staff of the $138-billion pension fund recommended the measures in an item posted on CalPERS’ Web site Monday.

The pension fund’s staff seeks changes in the way CalPERS votes on company proxies dealing with compensation, proposed a new model for comparing executive pay to company performance and outlined plans for a Web site that will detail corporate compensation issues.

The new section on the Web site would draw together data on pay and include a list of 10 to 15 companies that CalPERS believes have the worst practices in comparison with their peers.

“We’re cracking down on abusive executive compensation, and giving companies our view of what we want,” CalPERS spokesman Brad Pacheco said.

Last June, CalPERS added a policy that said all equity-based compensation plans should be approved by shareholders.