AB 1383 reverses gains made by the Public Employees Pension Reform Act – even Jerry Brown doesn’t like it

Earlier this month, the city of Chico agreed to pay for extra cancer screening for Chico PD and Fire. The first thing I realized was, the city (the taxpayers) already provide these employees with health insurance, really nice insurance, better than the average taxpayer can afford. Not to mention, salaries of $100,000+/ year. But we also have to pay for extra cancer screenings?

Here I’ll ask, where’s the free screenings for those of us affected by the Park Fire? How come we treat these people like sacred cows while the rest of us struggle to pay for health care? Or just don’t get any?

The California budget is billions in deficit because of entitled, self-centered, GREEDY employees. Public safety employees get the best salaries and benefits while paying unrealistic shares toward these plush benefits. You ask them, how much can we give, and they always answer “MORE MORE MORE!”, threatening service cuts if they don’t get what they want.

The public employee unions have brought forward California Assembly Bill 1383, which essentially undoes the reforms created by PEPRA. The Public Employees Pension Reform Act of 2013 raised the age at which employees could retire and required public employees hired after 2013 to pay at least 50 percent of normal costs of their own benefits. It also prohibited public employers from paying any of the required employee contribution.

In past the city of Chico actually paid the entire cost of pensions for management and most of the cost for public safety. Meaning those employees – the highest paid – contributed NOTHING toward their generous benefits packages until 2013. That is a big reason why CalPERS continues to be drastically under-funded and why cities all over California are having budget crises and raising taxes. PEPRA was not quite as far as I’d like to have taken it, but at least it was something. AB 1383 puts us right back on the Road to Perdition.

https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1383

PEPRA requires each retirement system that offers a defined benefit plan for safety members of the system to use one of 3 formulas for safety members, 2% at age 57, 2.5% at age 57, or 2.7% at age 57.

This bill(1383) would establish new retirement formulas, for employees first hired on or after January 1, 2026, as 2.5% at age 55, 2.7% at age 55, or 3% at age 55.

PEPRA requires all public employees to pay at least 50 percent of normal costs and prohibits public employers from paying any of the required employee contribution.

This bill(1383) would authorize an employer and employee, through the collective bargaining process, to agree to terms in a memorandum of understanding where the employer pays a portion of employee contribution.

Jerry Brown gave us PEPRA, so I was not so surprised to hear that he criticizes 1383 – thanks to The Dude for sending me this piece from Cal Matters.

Just an end note – neither police nor fire are listed on the top 10 most dangerous jobs in the United States. According to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports, loggers have a more chances of getting injured, even killed, than either police or fire. So do “roofers, fishing and hunting workers, construction helpers, aircraft pilots and flight engineers, truck drivers, refuse and recyclable material collectors, structural iron and steel workers, underground mining machine operators, and agricultural workers. ”

We’ll keep an eye on this one.