California’s top state earners include pension chiefs, prison psychiatrists and highway patrol leaders
State payroll data shows that California’s highest-paid workers are pension executives, prison mental-health staff and senior highway patrol officials, some earning over $2 million.
Publicly available payroll records reveal that California’s top-paid state employees are largely drawn from its massive pension funds, the corrections system and the highway patrol. Stephen Gilmore, CalPERS chief investment officer, led the list with $2.36 million in total pay, which combined salary, benefits and a large “other pay” component. About 250 workers earned above $600,000, many of them senior managers at CalPERS and the Teachers’ Retirement System, as well as senior officials in the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the California Highway Patrol.
Prison mental-health staff such as Samita Gandhi and Olivia Del Pilar each earned close to $850,000. Retired highway patrol chief Tai Vong received $914,554 in his final year, including a lump-sum payment. Other notable salaries included Vernon Steiner of the State Compensation Insurance Fund at $1.2 million and high-speed rail director Ian Choudri at $638,943. By contrast, agencies like Motor Vehicles and Veterans Affairs reported median wages below $71,000.
Why it matters
Taxpayers can see how state funds are allocated to top earners across pensions, corrections and law enforcement.
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