Pensions
January 25, 2012
Editorial: Lawmakers spin their wheels on pension reform
A joint Senate/Assembly conference committee will hold its third (ho-hum) informational hearing today on the 12-point pension reform plan that Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled with such fanfare last October. Don't expect anything to come of it. So far, a lot of talk has emerged but no pension bill. Efforts to substantially reduce state pension obligations are a sham in this Legislature, and most people who work in the Capitol know that.
A conference committee was formed to produce a reform package, but after three months, no author has emerged willing to champion the governor's proposal and no language has been drafted that would give substance to the modest plan Brown outlined...
LINK - SacBee.com
January 24, 2012
More work to do on pension reform in New Jersey
In talking to state legislators, there appears to be a willingness to address a fresh concern with the New Jersey public pension system.
News reporter Lauren Taniguchi has written stories the last two Sundays about public employees retiring, collecting pensions and then getting new public jobs. Labeled “double-dipping” by critics, the practice amounts to two hefty public paychecks for many of these individuals.
It’s a practice our state cannot afford and one that should be ended....
LINK - NJ.com
January 11, 2012
Public Employee Pension Reduction Initiative - Gathering signatures now
Reduces pension benefits for current and future public employees, including teachers, nurses, and peace officers, but excluding judges. Eliminates constitutional protections for current and future public employees' vested pension benefits. Creates hybrid pension plan for new employees, capping collective benefits at 75 percent of salary. Limits cost-of-living adjustments for retired and current employees. Prohibits public retirement systems from providing death or disability benefits to future employees. Requires that current employees add up to three percent of their salary to their pension contribution annually, when pension plan is underfunded. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government...
LINK - SOS.ca.gov
January 10, 2012
Illinois Gov. Quinn urges pension fix; he’s ‘willing to lead the expedition’ this year
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn pledged Tuesday to reform the public employee pension system "once and for all" this spring.
The Democratic governor said he's willing to take on the ailing program in a year when every seat in the Legislature is up for election because the state's contribution to five retirement plans is eating up more and more of the state budget.
The system is short about $85 billion what it will eventually need to cover all its liabilities. But repair could mean reducing benefits for state employees, something that's highly unpopular with powerful unions who contribute money to political campaigns...
LINK - ChicagoTribune.com
January 4, 2012
Lawmakers face budget strife, election challenges
The state Legislature reconvened Wednesday for a year of diminished expectations set against a background of intense partisanship and election-year politics.
Lawmakers face a $13 billion budget deficit and several hot topics that include pension reform, high-speed rail and whether to keep an $11 billion water bond on the November ballot.
Gov. Jerry Brown and his fellow Democrats, who control both houses of the Legislature, already have said they do not plan to engage with Republicans in budget discussions after last year's failure to reach a compromise. Instead, they'll go to the ballot and ask voters to increase taxes on the wealthy and boost the state sales tax...
LINK - MercuryNews.com
December 29, 2011
Debt-ridden Stockton a battleground for police union, City Hall
The first eyebrow-raising salvo in the fight between the cops and this city was the billboards.
"Welcome to the 2nd most dangerous city in California: Stop laying off cops!" read one at the city's entrance. Other billboards posted by the Stockton Police Officers' Assn. depicted splattered blood, gave a running tally of the city's record number of homicides — and the city manager's phone number.
Since then, the fight moved closer to home: The police union bought the house next to City Manager Bob Deis...
LINK - LATimes.com
December 27, 2011
Double dipping retirees eyed by Brown
Gov. Jerry Brown's plan for sweeping public pension reform would hit the pocketbooks of employees who hope to collect a pension check and paycheck at the same time.
It's a common practice statewide -- especially in law enforcement -- and the central San Joaquin Valley is no exception.
Visalia Police Chief Colleen Mestas, for example, gets an annual pension of about $55,000 based on her 20 years with the Fresno County Sheriff's Department and also collects $140,000 a year, including benefits, from her current job...
LINK - FresnoBee.com
December 25, 2011
Editorial: Pension numbers need to be nailed
When California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer dropped by The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board last week to talk about public employee pensions, he said he didn't have "settled, crisp views" on pension reform. That statement surprised everyone in the room.
After all, Lockyer is one of the state's chief financial officers, a man who's been sitting on the boards of the state's two biggest public pension funds, the California Public Employees' Retirement System and the State Teachers' Retirement System, for five years now...
LINK - SacBee.com
December 24, 2011
Opinion: Pension reform hindered by limits of contract protections
When it comes to public-employee pensions in California, what goes up usually can't come down.
At least that's the prevailing legal theory, severely restricting reform options across the state. As the state pension squeeze intensifies, we soon could see those limits tested.
Pensions typically are based on the number of years an employee works. Each additional year adds to future retirement payments. Starting in 1999, most public agencies in California increased that annual accrual rate...
LINK - MercuryNews.com
December 22, 2011
Press Release from the Tennessee State Senate Republican Caucus, Dec. 22, 2011
State Senator Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) announced today he has introduced legislation that would reform the way pensions are calculated for new state employees. The plan would be offered for new state employees but not for local government employees or for education workers. Kelsey said the proposal would establish a privately managed cash-balance plan to eventually replace the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System defined benefits plan, participation in which would continue to remain available for current employees.
The legislation is the tenth in a series of announcements by Kelsey in his “12 for ’12” initiative for the next legislative session, which is set to reconvene January 10, 2012...
LINK - TNReport.com
September 20, 2011
Public Employee Pensions Under Attack - Again
The group founded by the advocates of the tax-cutting Proposition 13 are crafting a ballot initiative that urges across-the-board cuts in public pensions and sets ups a new, CalPERS-style state retirement system for private employees.
The proposed initiative, which would apply to new and reinstated employees, would cap pay at $100,000 for the purposes of figuring retirement. It would bar any other compensation – such as bonuses, accrued overtime, accrued sick leave and vacation pay – from being included when calculating pensions...
LINK - CapitolWeekly.net
May 25, 2011
Neillo says he won’t pursue pension-reduction initiative
Former Assemblyman Roger Niello's initiative to rollback public pension benefits "will end up in the scrapheap of politically-motivated failures," said Dave Lowe, chairman of Californians for Retirement Security, in a statement released by the union coalition Tuesday evening.
As reported by Bee colleague Paresh Dave on Tuesday, Niello has decided he won't pursue collecting signatures to put his public pension rollback initiative on the ballot, although the secretary of state has said that he can begin working to place it before voters.
Niello, a Fair Oaks Republican who has said he's considering a run at statewide office, said with a special election on taxes later this year looking more and more remote, there's no urgency to make sure "pension reform" goes up for a vote...
LINK - SacBee.com - The State Worker
May 24, 2011
Pension reduction initiative authorized to collect signatures
Former Republican Assemblyman Roger Niello of Sacramento is clear for signature take-off on his controversial public employee pension reform initiative.
The Secretary of State officially announced today that he may begin collecting the required 807,615 signatures of California voters in order to qualify the measure for the statewide ballot.
The constitutional amendment strips public employee unions of their right to negotiate their pensions in collective bargaining, sets the retirement age at 62 and caps benefits at 60 percent of an employee’s highest average base wage over three years. It also requires that workers match the public contribution to their premiums...
LINK - IBABuzz.com
May 6, 2011
LAO analysis of pension reduction initiative
This is the summary from LAO:
This measure provides that public employee defined pension benefits in California can only allow for "full retirement ages" of 62 years of age or older. This provision of the measure states that it would apply to public employees who are employed on the day after this measure is approved by the state's voters, notwithstanding the Contract Clause of the State Constitution.
March 3, 2011
California lawmakers pounce on the messenger
California lawmakers on Wednesday reacted skeptically to a new proposal to lower public employee pensions throughout state and local government.
Stuart Drown, the executive director of the Commission on California State Government Organization and Economy, known as the Little Hoover Commission, testified before a joint session of California Assembly and Senate committees that oversee public employee compensation that the current system is unsustainable and has become a program that seeks wealth accumulation for public employees...
LINK - CalCoastNews.com
February 25, 2011
Little Hoover Commission: Cut retirement benefits for current employees, including C/Os
The Little Hoover Commission issued a report today recommending the reduction of pension benefits for all current public employees in the state.
Here are a few excerpts from the report:
- “The Legislature should give state and local governments the authority to alter the future, unaccrued retirement benefits for current public employees.”
- “Freezing earned pension benefits and re-setting pension formulas at a more realistic level going forward for current employees would allow governments to reduce their overall liabilities – particularly in public safety budgets. “
- “Police officers, firefighters and corrections officers have to be involved in the discussion because they, as a group, are younger, retire earlier and often comprise a larger share of personnel costs at both the state and local level.”
- “Public safety pensions cannot be exempted from the discussion because of political inconvenience.”
February 22, 2011
Assemblyman who receives peace officer retirement proposes collective bargaining ban
Assemblyman Allan Mansoor (R-Costa Mesa) introduced a bill Tuesday that would eliminate the right of public employees to collectively bargain for pension benefits. The measure is partly a response to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, whose controversial bill to eliminate collective bargaining for most public employee unions has prompted massive protests and a walkout by Democratic lawmakers. The Indiana state Senate also has passed a bill that would limit the power of teachers’ unions.
“I stand in solidarity with the courageous legislators in the Midwest who are taking brave steps to do the right thing for all of their citizens, not just public employee union campaign contributors,” Mansoor said in a statement...
LINK - LATimes.com
February 21, 2011
Legislative analyst urges pension reductions throughout public sector
The nonpartisan state Legislative Analyst's Office urged action Thursday to reduce pensions for future employees throughout the public sector, an issue that some Republicans have demanded be part of budget talks.
The office recommended that lawmakers act not only on state employee pensions, but on retirement benefits for the University of California system, teachers and county government workers.
"From our perspective, this seems unsustainable," Jason Sisney, director of state finance for the Legislative Analyst's Office, said in a phone interview...
LINK - SacBee.com
January 25, 2011
Another View: Public employees are negotiating pension changes
Dan Pellissier attempts to use our hope for honest civic discussion to conceal his long commitment to cutting retirement security no matter the consequences.
An honest assessment of our budget situation starts with the worst economic crash in 70 years and how Wall Street speculation hurt every aspect of the economy.
Those market conditions are also the cause of retirement funding shortfalls. "The main driver of the current level of pension funding pressure is market losses in late 2008 and early 2009," according to a study by the Fitch independent global rating agency...
LINK - SacBee.com (Opinion)
September 22, 2010
CCPOA Member Alert: Gov Candidate Positions
Meg Whitman v. Jerry Brown on the Issues that affect California state workers and BU6 the most.
Meg Whitman:
• Collective Bargaining:
Whitman also said the extension of collective bargaining rights
to state workers in 1977 was "probably not a good thing."
Source: Sacramento Bee, 9/20/2010• On State Employees:
“Well, I know, from my experience, that almost any
organization, you can lay off 10 percent of the
bureaucracy, and actually -- maybe it's easier, actually,
with fewer people, and it will not be a hardship on the
state. And, so, that would say that you want to lay off
between 30,000 and 40,000 people.”
Source: CNN, 5/18/2009
