The city of Stockton can’t fix pensions alone. It implored the state to do it. Yesterday Gov. Brown unveiled his pension reform proposal.
It’s half-baked.
Still, half-baked reform is better than none. Brown’s proposal would:
–Increase retirement ages for full benefits to 57 for public safety workers and to 67 for other government employees in the Calpers retirement system.
–Ban retroactive benefits.
–Ban “airtime,” the purchasing of service credits to enhance retirement.
–Ban pension spiking.
Unfortunately, Brown’s vaunted hybrid system, in which employees contribute towards their retirement with a 401k, is kaput. Most reforms apply to newcomers. They don’t affect active employees. So most savings aren’t immediate — on the contrary, they’re way off.
Though they dodged the big bullet, public employees complained anyway.
Meanwhile, California’s debt has reached $617 billion, a new report says. Ours is the most indebted state in the country. I don’t know about you, but I will not vote for Brown’s tax increase based on this poor fiscal policy.
