"Discussions between PECG and CalPERS, which began late last night and continued for the majority of the day, have concluded and led to an agreement in which language for the proposed policy will ensure that the members' jobs will not be outsourced to private firms when investing in public-private partnerships," a source with the PECG stated in an email late Thursday afternoon. "Although PECG does not support public-private partnerships because they are proven to be bad investments and are contrary to the public interest, we will be neutral on the proposed policy because of the language that has been agreed upon."

While the 11th-hour negotiations were underway between CalPERS and the PECG, the public engineers private sector corporate counterpart, the American Council of Engineering Companies of California, issued a statement saying governments around the world have been successfully using PPPs for years to more effectively leveragelimited capital to deliver much-needed infrastructure, and that "such lawsuits are a terrible disservice to the public [because] they discourage forward thinking investment institutions that realize investment in infrastructure can provide steady returns and be a valuable public benefit."

A source with CalPERS acknowledged early Thursday afternoon that the talks were underway, saying any agreed-upon changes would be presented to the board on Monday before any vote is taken. The policy was initiated by Russell Read, who recently left as the fund's chief investment officer to start an environmental and "clean tech" investment firm. He joined CalPERS in June 2006, after serving as deputy chief investment officer for Deutsche Asset Management and Scudder investments.