PART II: UCOP & Regents: Don’t Say You Weren’t Warned
Someone asked yours truly yesterday whether the GOP pension initiative actually covered existing employees as well as new hires. Apparently, there was a report that the Republican legislator in whose name the initiative was submitted had denied it. The article below – as well as the language of the initiative – makes it clear that existing employees are to be included.
The article also notes that Gov. Brown is willing to accept a pension cap of $106,000. That is different from the initiative which has a 60% final pay cap. But it is unacceptable for UC faculty and would override the Regents’ December decision. If such a pension deal covered UC – and the GOP initiative explicitly does cover UC – it would undermine the constitutional autonomy of the university. Yet, as far as is known, neither UCOP nor the Regents are pressing the governor on these points.
A previous posting on this blog reprinted the entire pension initiative so no one could say later that what was happening was unknown. This posting is a second warning.
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Budget talks deteriorate as GOP unveils big request list (excerpt)
David Siders and Kevin Yamamura, Sacramento Bee, 3/26/11
State budget talks between Gov. Jerry Brown and Republican lawmakers deteriorated Friday as Republicans released a long list of proposals to overhaul California government that Democrats said had further divided the parties.
According to a document Senate Republicans provided to reporters, they asked Brown for pension cuts to current and future employees, as well as changes to teacher tenure that reward performance and a hard cap on future state spending, among dozens of ideas.
The Republican document also said the GOP sought a June ballot that asks voters for only an 18-month extension in higher taxes on vehicles, sales and income, while Brown wants five additional years of those tax rates. He needs at least two Republican votes in each house to place the measure before voters…
According to GOP notes, Brown is willing to accept a $106,000 per year cap on final pension amounts and impose new restrictions intended to block workers from spiking their payouts. But he rejected increases in cost-sharing, as well as any move toward a 401(k) style plan, for current employees. He was, however, open to creating a hybrid option for future workers…
Full story at http://www.sacbee.com/2011/03/26/3504845/budget-talks-deteriorate-dems.html
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We did ask some representatives of UCOP and the Regents about what was happening in Sacramento but they seemed unconcerned:
