A measure that would reform the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), which serves the retirement funds of more than 3,000 California government employers, may be on the 2016 ballot in the Golden State.
Former San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, who led the 10th largest U.S. city from 2007-2014, is teaming with former San Diego Council member Carl DeMaio in the initiative effort. Reed headed a similar, unsuccessful, attempt in 2014.
According to San Jose Inside, the initiative would allow local governments to renegotiate pension contracts. Reed, who plans to submit the initiative to state officials for their review by May, in March 11 remarks argued that failing to enact pension reform would result in cuts in services and an increasing flow of tax money to cover public pension expenditures. He called the situation “unsustainable.”
The Oct. 1, 2014 ruling by Judge Christopher M. Klein of the Eastern District of California concerning the bankruptcy of Stockton, Calif., helped lay the groundwork for the ballot initiative drive. The New York Times reports that Klein said that if a city is under federal bankruptcy protection, CalPERS cannot exercise its power under state law to put a lien on that city’s assets if it is in arrears to CalPERS. Klein said it would be legal for Stockton, which owes CalPERS $1.6 billion, to renege since it is not unusual for contracts to be broken when a bankruptcy is declared.
Former San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, who led the 10th largest U.S. city from 2007-2014, is teaming with former San Diego Council member Carl DeMaio in the initiative effort. Reed headed a similar, unsuccessful, attempt in 2014.
According to San Jose Inside, the initiative would allow local governments to renegotiate pension contracts. Reed, who plans to submit the initiative to state officials for their review by May, in March 11 remarks argued that failing to enact pension reform would result in cuts in services and an increasing flow of tax money to cover public pension expenditures. He called the situation “unsustainable.”
The Oct. 1, 2014 ruling by Judge Christopher M. Klein of the Eastern District of California concerning the bankruptcy of Stockton, Calif., helped lay the groundwork for the ballot initiative drive. The New York Times reports that Klein said that if a city is under federal bankruptcy protection, CalPERS cannot exercise its power under state law to put a lien on that city’s assets if it is in arrears to CalPERS. Klein said it would be legal for Stockton, which owes CalPERS $1.6 billion, to renege since it is not unusual for contracts to be broken when a bankruptcy is declared.
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