Initiative 1435, the “Public Employee Pension Limitation Law”, (download a petition to sign here) is currently in the “gathering of signatures” phase. The measure needs the signatures of 433,971 registered California voters by June 14, 2010 in order to qualify for the November ballot.
Bruce Malkenhorst, a former Vernon, California city executive receives a $500,000 per year pension from the state of California.
What is Initiative 1435?
Initiative 1435 simply limits the pensions of new public hires for the state of California to no more than $100,000 per year. Cost of living increases could bring the maximum up to $162,500. Once enacted into law the measure can only be changed with approval of 3/4 of both houses of the legislature. That’s it. No back-end proposal for special interests, just a simple measure to help bring fiscal sanity back to California.
I wrote the measure because I care about our great state. An odd divide is forming here between government employees and the private sector. The state is bleeding private sector jobs while public employee unions grow ever stronger. We need to restore some balance!
When crafting the initiative, I specifically left out salary limits during a worker’s active career. I want California to have the best public employees in the nation. Competitive salaries are an important component in attracting that great talent. Health benefits or years-of-service reforms are also not included.
The state’s Legislative Analyst Office said of the measure (emphasis mine):
“Very few public employees now receive pensions of over $100,000, but the effects of inflation over the next few decades can be expected to greatly increase this number. Accordingly, within a few decades, this measure could result in substantial reductions in state and local defined benefit pension payments…these savings eventually could total in the billions of dollars per year (in today’s dollars).“
Public employee pension and benefit obligations are coming at the state of California like a brake-less freight train. We must act now.
There is no large financial backer of Initiative 1435 at this time. If the measure is going to make it on the ballot it will take the hard work of people like you and me to gather the number of signatures needed. Volunteers are definitely needed and welcome.
Initiative 1435 is not anti-Union, it is pro-California. Let’s help get California back on track.
John Romano can be contacted at pensionlimitationlaw@yahoo.com
Information from the state of California about Initiative 1435:
Read the Legislative Analyst Offices analysis of Initiative 1435
Download and sign the Petition
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John Romano is the publisher and editor of Yes, But However!, a musician, a former political correspondent for BBC Radio London, and a serial web entrepreneur. Follow him on twitter: twitter.com/yesbuthowever or John Romano on Google+John Romano article archive.
