Headline: The Pension Gap
Publication: Los Angeles Times, CALmatters, & Capital Public Radio
Article Date: Sep 18, 2016
This article explains the history of Senate Bill 400 which significantly enhanced state public employee pension benefits in 2000. Even though he has a decidedly negative slant toward labor (“the kind of retirement security normally reserved for the wealthy”), the reporter does a pretty good job of tracking the issues and players involved over the ensuing years.
Article Commentary by Chris Heiserman, RESDC Editorial Committee Chair
The 1999 legislation enhancing retirement benefits for state workers is looked on by public pension critics as the original “sin” against taxpayers. In their view it lead to benefit increases throughout California local governments that are unfunded and unsustainable. The problem is instead of looking for ways to pay for those benefits already promised and working with labor groups to make pension plans more viable going forward, they want to scrap Defined Benefit retirements altogether in favor of 401(k) accounts that are the darlings of the private sector but provide woefully inadequate income streams to retirees.