Despite being the test ground for every other social experiment in America, elected officials are accusing California – and its public pension plan, the largest in the country – of shirking its social responsibilities in its investments.

According to Reuters, the $244 billion California Public Employees Retirement System has been accused of purposely avoiding new and emerging money managers – investment firms often managed by women and minorities – and instead going with older, more mainstream firms. And still losing money in the process, State Senator Curren Price Jr. added.

Joe Dear, chief investment officer for the CALPERS fund, countered that the system he oversees does in fact maintain a strong commitment to emerging and diverse investment manager strategies, but conceded that the fund's managers, despite their age, stripe or color, have all been doing poorly in recent years.