Gov. Gavin Newsom has turned back an effort by police and firefighter unions to secure richer retirement benefits, citing hard lessons from California’s pension crisis in a veto issued Sunday.
The bill, which had cleared the Legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support, would have lowered the retirement age for public safety workers and expanded pension formulas — changes labor groups argued were long overdue given the physical demands of the job.
In his veto message, Newsom said the measure would have unwound key parts of a 2012 pension reform law championed by former Gov. Jerry Brown, one enacted at a time when California’s major retirement systems were reeling from Great Recession losses.
“I still recall — before PEPRA’s passage in 2012 — the alarming forecasts, the fierce criticism of public employees, and the growing pressure to eliminate defined benefit plans all together,” Newsom wrote, referring to the Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act. “This is an era of California history I do not wish to repeat.”
Brown’s law reshaped retirement rules for public safety workers statewide, pushing the retirement age from 50 to 57 and trimming the annual pension accrual rate from 3% to 2.7%. It also required employees to contribute more from their own paychecks toward their retirement.
Assembly Bill 1383, authored by Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, D-Inglewood, sought to roll back some of those changes. It would have dropped the retirement age to 55, raised pension earning caps and given unions more room to negotiate accrual rates as high as 3% per year of service.
Supporters argued the physical toll of policing and firefighting justifies an earlier retirement. “AB 1383 gives us something important: Two more years with our families,” said Darrell Roberts, president of California Professional Firefighters, speaking last week at a rally on the Capitol steps that drew hundreds of public safety workers.
But the price tag worried city and county governments across the state, including in the Inland Empire. According to estimates from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the bill’s provisions would have added hundreds of millions of dollars annually in costs to local governments responsible for funding these pensions.
“It represents the greatest long-term financial threat to the sustainability of cities in years,” La Verne City Manager Ken Domer told CalMatters in a recent interview.
A coalition representing cities, counties and special districts praised Newsom’s decision to reject the bill. “At a time of severe fiscal uncertainty and growing demand for services, it is more important than ever for state leaders to help control costs,” the group said in a statement.
The bill’s legislative support had been striking — it passed the Senate 33-0 and cleared the Assembly 69-2. At last week’s rally, lawmakers stood alongside firefighters and police officers holding signs reading “Firefighters deserve a safe retirement” and “Keep California safe. Recruit. Retain. Sign AB 1383.”
Assemblywoman Stephanie Nguyen, D-Elk Grove, told the crowd the fight would continue regardless of the outcome. “This is just the beginning. After we get this signed, we will do more. We will fight for more to show you that we appreciate you,” she said.
Following the veto, Roberts said the firefighters union was “deeply disappointed” but vowed to keep pushing for change. “To every CPF member, this fight is not over. I made a commitment to you all; we will keep fighting for retirement security, and we will stand together,” he said in a statement Sunday.
Original source: CalMatters
