By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill 1383 on Sept. 20, despite the bill passing unanimously in the state Senate and 70-2 in the Assembly.
- The bill would have lowered the retirement age for police officers and firefighters from 57 to 55 and allowed unions to bargain for a higher maximum pension accrual rate, from 2.7% to 3%.
- AB 1383 would also have raised the maximum retirement income cap for high-earning public employees.
- Newsom cited concerns that the bill would conflict with the 2013 Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act, a law enacted after the pension system was strained by the Great Recession and dot-com bust.
- Cities and counties opposed the bill over the increased costs of funding pensions on a faster timeline; the state’s pension accounts are currently funded at about 85% of what they owe members.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill Sunday that would have lowered the retirement age and increased pension benefits for California police officers and firefighters, despite broad bipartisan legislative support, according to CalMatters.
Assembly Bill 1383 would have lowered the retirement age for police and firefighters from 57 to 55 and allowed public employee unions to bargain for larger pensions by raising the maximum benefit accrual rate from 2.7% to 3%, according to CalMatters. The bill also would have increased the maximum retirement income cap for the state’s highest-earning public employees. It passed unanimously in the state Senate and by a 70-2 vote in the Assembly.
In his veto message, Newsom said parts of the bill would conflict with the Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act, a 2013 law intended to reverse damage the state’s pension system sustained during the Great Recession and dot-com bust, when officials feared some pension funds could become insolvent. The system’s accounts remain funded at about 85% of what they owe members, according to CalMatters.
“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. “This is an era of California history I do not wish to repeat.”
Cities and counties had also opposed the bill, citing the increased costs of funding pension benefits on a faster timeline, according to CalMatters.