Initiative to Restrict Teacher Retirement is Filed

Seth Sandronsky 

On Tuesday California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris released the full title and summary text for the Public Employees Pension and Retiree Healthcare Benefits Initiative Constitutional Amendment. The title is a mouthful, but the initiative’s wording is just six sentences long.

Its first two lines read: “Eliminates constitutional protections for vested pension and retiree healthcare benefits for current public employees, including those working in K-12 schools, higher education, hospitals and police protection, for future work performed. Adds initiative/referendum powers to Constitution, for determining public employee compensation and retirement benefits.” 

Assault on Pensions ( including Teacher Pensions) continues

Bill Raden, Capital and Main

When Democratic former San Jose mayor Chuck Reed and Republican ex-San Diego councilmember Carl DeMaio finally unveiled the language for a promised attempt at getting a statewide public pension cutting measure to 2016 voters, the expectation was that Reed II would be a reined-in and more realistically-framed version of Reed I – last year’s failed attempt at undermining the public pension system.

Editors note:

 These pension critics in California have targeted public pensions as a place to claim a crisis and to demand pensions changes- which would make them billions.

In 2014 California pensions had 84 % of the funds they need to pay their obligations. Most pension critics- such as the Peterson Institute- say that 80%  of  potential obligations should be covered in assets.

This argument incorrectly assumes that there will not be more workers paying into the ongoing pensions.  That is the policy direction argued for by austerity advocates mostly in the Republican Party.

The truth is that working people such as teachers and police officers  paid into these pension funds.  At times- the state and local governments skipped their obligations to match the workers contributions. This created a problem that is being dealt with.