The next few weeks will draw the lines more sharply in the 2012 debate over public employee pensions. A road map:

On Monday, the attorney general's office expects to issue the titles and descriptive summaries for two potential November ballot initiatives that aim to cut government pension costs.

One of the measures backed by California Pension Reform would put newly hired state and local government workers into "defined contribution" plans similar to a 401(k) account.

The group's other measure would put those future employees into "hybrid" plans that blend smaller guaranteed pensions with defined-contribution savings accounts for retirement.

Gov. Jerry Brown has a similar hybrid plan that he would like the Legislature to put before voters in November. It's a spoonful of fiscal sugar to sprinkle over a tax hike measure he'd like to put on the same ballot.

The pension reform group next week will poll its two plans and messages to figure out which has the best chance to win over voters. With that bit of crucial research in hand, California Pension Reform will approach potential backers.

It has already networked with some deep-pocketed players who could underwrite its efforts and has already raised some funds, said spokesman Aaron McLear. Former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz is one of the people twisting donors' arms.

"We'll have something to show some high-level potential donors," McLear said. "We can say, 'Here's what you'd be supporting.' "

He wouldn't say how much money the pension reform group needs, but admitted it needs to materialize "very quickly."

If you figure it will cost about $2 per valid signature, CPR will need between $1.5 million and $2 million to find 807,615 registered California voters to put their names on a petition.

The law sets a 150-day deadline to turn in signatures. That's June 8 if the attorney general issues the pension measures' titles and summaries on Monday.

"The longer you wait (to gather signatures), the more expensive it becomes," Mc- Lear said. "The next couple of months will be crucial."

Meanwhile, Brown has tried to persuade the Democratic-majority Legislature to come up with the two-thirds vote in each chamber to put his pension reform measure on the ballot.

They've been lukewarm while their labor constituents have damned Brown's plan with faint-praise press quotes like the time-honored, "We're working with the governor."

The map could change quickly, however, if the pension reform group gets some serious signature-gathering cash.

Brown's plan would gain leverage as the lesser of two evils with his fellow Democrats and labor, especially if it looks like California Pension Reform's harsher defined-contribution plan is headed for the ballot.

Then that pension reform road map would lead to a dead end that would suit labor just fine: competing measures that cancel each other out.

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Call The Bee's Jon Ortiz, (916) 321-1043. Read his blog, The State Worker, at sacbee.com/blogs.

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