Budget/Fiscal

A group of bipartisan California mayors – including San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed (D), San Bernardino Mayor Pat Morris (D), Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido (D), Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait (R) and Pacific Grove Mayor Bill Kampe (D) – have filed a statewide ballot initiative to provide state and local governments with the tools needed to fix California’s unsustainable public employee retirement plans.

“The Pension Reform Act of 2014 would amend the California Constitution to give government agencies clear authority to negotiate changes to existing employees’ pension or retiree healthcare benefits on a strictly going-forward basis,” a release stated on Tuesday.  “The measure explicitly protects retirement benefits government employees have already earned, while allowing benefits to be modified for future years of service.”

It is a thought provoking if not outright provocative article that veteran columnist Peter Schrag put out last Friday, noting the liberal tendency to “blame everything that went wrong in California, from power failures to kidnapping, on Proposition 13,” but nonetheless suggestions that while “the tax-cutting initiative was not the cause of all that ailed the state … as state and local officials remain in deep denial on California’s mounting multibillion-dollar unfunded public employee pension and retiree health care obligations, it’s time to return to the subject.”

The question at hand, “Did Proposition 13 help create the conditions that have contributed mightily to those unfunded liabilities?”

In February, Assemblymembers Mariko Yamada and Bob Blumenfield (D-San Fernando Valley), Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, announced their sponsorship of legislation that would make the Community Based Adult Services (CBAS) program permanent.

However, the legislation has proven to be troublesome.  A similar bill was vetoed back in 2011.

Governor Jerry Brown announced on Thursday that he is putting forth a balance budget “that boosts investment in education, implements health care reform and keeps California on a long-term path to fiscal stability. This budget builds on the work of the last two years to eliminate the ongoing deficit.”

“The budget cuts made in the last two years and the passage of Proposition 30 make it possible to both live within our means and to increase funding for education,” said Governor Brown.

Critics on Both Sides Blast the Deal which Rolls Back 3% at 50 But Only For New Employees –

Governor Brown and Democratic leaders on Tuesday outlined their compromise proposal for what they are calling “a sweeping pension reform agreement that saves billions of taxpayer dollars by capping benefits, increasing the retirement age, stopping abusive practices and requiring state employees to pay at least half of their pension costs.”

“These reforms make fundamental changes that rein in costs and help to ensure that our public retirement system is sustainable for the long term. These reforms require sacrifice from public employees and represent a significant step forward,” said Governor Brown.