Gov. Jerry Brown showed up personally to pitch his 12-point pension plan before a joint Assembly- Senate Committee on Thursday.
The rare appearance underlines the importance of pension reform for this governor. Without it, Brown told legislators, "I don't think we will have the credibility to ask the people to do other things that are very much needed."
Chief among those "other things" is a tax increase he hopes to put before voters next year. Sadly, legislators seemed unimpressed.
Committee members spent the greater part of the proceedings pandering to the unions that fund their re-election campaigns. Sen. Gloria Negrete-McCloud worried that reform might leave state retirees "eating cat food."
Some retired state workers have pensions that are modest by any measure. But as the Legislative Analyst's Office noted in its review of the governor's plan, California state and local governments provide among the most generous retirement benefits available to any workers in the country, public or private.
Legislators know rising pension costs are unsustainable, but have done little of substance to fix the problem. By contrast, many local governments facing bankruptcy can't afford to delay.
San Jose's pension costs have tripled over the past decade while revenue has plummeted, forcing that city to lay off more than 2,000 employees, including 66 police officers.
Mayor Chuck Reed is pushing a reform package that would strongly encourage current employees to voluntarily opt into a lower-cost pension plan to save themselves and the city money now. He also wants to suspend cost-of -living increases for retirees.
Strong union opposition and new actuarial estimates showing that pay cuts and layoffs may have already provided sufficient savings to avert drastic service cuts have undercut Reed's reform efforts. Still, he warns that vital city services remain at risk as pension costs continue to climb.
The state's risks may not be quite as immediate, but they are serious nonetheless. And while the Legislature dithers, the crisis only grows.
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