Firing Power Shift Initiated by California Public Employees Retirement System.(Originated from , The Sacramento Bee, Calif.)

Jun. 15--The California Public Employees Retirement System board began transferring its power to hire and fire real estate advisers to its staff on Thursday.

As expected, a committee of the PERS board unanimously approved the shift in responsibility after a daylong hearing that was taken up mostly by lengthy presentations by several of the advisers who manage nearly $4 billion in real estate investments for the pension fund.

The move comes in the wake of a consultant's study recommending that PERS terminate the contracts of four of 11 real estate advisers for poor performance.

While several board members seemed prepared to act on that recommendation, others …