New Twists in the Pension Debate
As readers of this blog will know, the governor came up with a 12-point plan for all public pensions in California that would include UC. To get certain elements of the plan on the ballot, he needs a 2/3 vote of the legislature. That would require Republican support.
In this case, however, the Republicans have pledged support and it is the Democrats who are reluctant. If all Republicans go along, Governor Brown would need about half of the Dems to go along. But so far that doesn’t seem to be happening.
The Dems are pushing a plan whereby – as part of some general pension enactment – private-sector workers would go under a pension plan run be CalPERS. Excerpt from the Sacramento Bee:
One day after Republicans sided with Gov. Jerry Brown on public pension reform, Democrats on Thursday said they want millions of Californians to have guaranteed retirement benefits.
Senate Bill 1234, written by Sen. Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, would require businesses with five or more employees to enroll them in a new “Personal Pension” defined benefit program or to offer an alternative employer-sponsored plan.
The new system’s investments would be professionally managed by CalPERS or another contracted organization. Employees would contribute about 3 percent of their wages through a payroll deduction, although they could opt out of the plan. Employers could make voluntary contributions into the fund.
Although the notion of having private-sector workers come under CalPERS might seem to come from the left, it was first surfaced in a convoluted proposed ballot initiative by Ted Costa whose right/populist political group kicked off the recall of Gray Davis. (The group descends from Paul Gann who co-sponsored Prop 13 with Howard Jarvis back in 1978.)
In short, the debate is taking a lot of twists that might not have been anticipated. It gives UCOP and the Regents some time to work with the legislature to pull UC out of whatever emerges. Whether they can work it on out is another matter:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_I8RCUpe-c&w=320&h=195]
