Legislative Analyst's Office Reviews Proposed Pension Reform Ballot Measures

From Wednesday's Sacramento Bee:

January 6, 2010
Legislative Analyst assesses initiatives proposing to cut benefits

The Legislative Analyst's Office has completed its analyses of three proposed initiatives for the 2010 ballot that take straight aim at cutting health and pension benefits for new state and public sector workers.

The LAO and Department of Finance prepare a detailed fiscal analysis of each proposed initiative and submit them to the Attorney General as part of the initiative process.
Read the three fiscal impact reports by clicking here, and here and here.

The theme is similar across all three reports, though each of the proposed initiatives are different in their own details.

The LAO says that "minor" short term savings could be achieved by adopting the proposed benefit reductions. The savings would be more substantial in the longer-term, it suggests.

Yet the analyses carry a major-league caveat.

The LAO notes that to offset the decline of retirement benefits offered to new employees, "some governments likely would increase other forms of compensation for some employees in order to remain competitive in the labor market."

As Bee colleague Kevin Yamamura reported this week, California is projected to have unfunded pension liabilities of more than $100 billion through 2014-15.

Yamamura also reported that the governor has met with backers of one of the proposed initiatives analyzed above and is considering supporting the measure, which would reduce benefits for public sector workers who begin new jobs in Juy 2011 or later.