Republican Senator’s Pension Reform Package to be Heard Next Week

Senator Mimi Walters has introduced a package of bills addressing pension reform, which will be heard on Tuesday, May 2 in the Senate Public Employment and Retirement Committee.

SB 521 would require the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) Board of Administration to determine the actuarially required contributions  which are necessary to fully fund post-employment health care benefits for retired annuitants under the Public Employees’ Medical and Hospital Care Act (PEMHCA). Additionally, SB 521 would require any employee hired on or after January 1, 2012 and his or her employer to each pay 50 percent of those actuarially required contributions.

SB 522 would prohibit the purchase of service credit for CalPERS and 1937 Act retirement system members.

SB 523 would prohibit any publicly elected local official who is elected on and after January 1, 2012 from becoming a member of a public employee retirement system or receiving any retirement right or benefit for serving in that elective local office.

SB 524 would prohibit employee organizations from negotiating under the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA), the Educational Employment Relations Act (EERA) the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA), the Trial Court Employment Protection and Governance Act, the Trial Court Interpreter Employment and Labor Relations Act, and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Transit Employer-Employee Relations Act for retroactive pension benefit increases with public employers.

SB 525 would prohibit any state employee who becomes a CalPERS member on or after January 1, 2012, and who is not a state patrol member, a state peace officer or firefighter,  or a state safety member from retiring before the age of 55.

SB 526 would, for members of CalPERS and 1937 Act retirement systems who are hired after January 1, 2012, define final compensation for the purpose of calculating retirement benefits as the highest annual average compensation earnable during a consecutive 36-month period. This bill would also prohibit the inclusion of credit for leave or overtime in the final compensation calculation.

SB 527 would exclude from the scope of representation under MMBA, EERA and HEERA, any matters related to pension benefits except for the amount of employee contributions to the pension plan; essentially, this bill prohibits public employee organizations from negotiating pension benefits with public employers.

SB 528 would provide that the six members of the CalPERS Board of Administration be appointed by the Governor. Currently, the six-member board includes two members elected by local active members and one member elected by retired members.

Retirement 

AB 340 (Furutani) - Oppose
As Amended on April 25, 2011

AB 340, by Assembly Member Warren Furutani, would, for 1937 Act county retirement systems, prohibit the inclusion of certain payments (including bonuses, housing allowances, severance pay, vehicle allowances and payments for unused vacation and sick leave) from being included as compensation earnable for the purpose of calculating a member’s pension benefits. This bill would also place the burden on the member or employer to present evidence to the retirement board that certain compensation was not paid for the purpose of enhancing the members’ retirement benefit.

AB 340 will be heard in the Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee on May 4.

AB 344 (Furutani) - Oppose
As Amended on April 25, 2011

AB 344, among other things, would eliminate the ability of a retired annuitant to continue providing services to a public agency that is affiliated with CalPERS beyond 960 hours in a fiscal year. 

AB 344 will be heard on May 4 in the Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee.

Collective Bargaining

AB 646 (Atkins) - Oppose
As Amended on March 23, 2011

AB 646, by Assembly Member Toni Atkins, would impose mandatory mediation and factfinding under MMBA. Essentially, a local agency would not be able to impose a last, best and final offer (LBFO) until specific post-impasse procedures were performed.

Current law allows public agencies to implement their LBFO if the public agency and an employee organization have reached an impasse in good faith negotiations. AB 646 would delete the authorization of public agencies to impose a LBFO until the following has occurred:

• Either party has been provided the opportunity to have a mediator appointed by the Public Employment Relations Board.
• Either party has been provided the opportunity to submit the matter to a factfinding panel if the appointed mediator is unable to bring the parties to an agreement within 15 days.
• The factfinding panel, if agreement has not been reached within 30 days, has made findings of fact and recommended terms of settlement, for advisory purposes only.

AB 646 will be heard in the Assembly Public Employees, Retiremnet and Social Security Committee on May 4.

SB 931 (Vargas) - Oppose
As Amended on April 25, 2011

SB 931, by Senator Juan Vargas, would provide that all public agencies are forbidden to use taxpayer dollars to pay for outside consultants or legal advisors for the purpose of counseling the public employer about ways to minimize or deter the exercise of public employee union activities. SB 931 was amended to state that these provisions would not apply to payments for representation of a public sector employer before any court, administrative agency, or tribunal of arbitration, or for payments for engaging in collective bargaining on behalf of the employer with respect to wages, hours, or other terms and conditions of employment. However, the bill substantially interferes with public agencies’ attorney-client privilege and unreasonably limits their legal counsel.

SB 931 is anticipated to be heard on May 2 in the Senate Public Employment and Retirement Committee.