Attacks on Public Employees' Pensions & Benefits

AFSCME is proud to represent over 180,000 state, county and municipal employees and retirees that share a common commitment to public service and who have invested in a sound public retirement system for their financial security. Unfortunately, legislation introduced this year by some legislators sought to needlessly undermine public employees’ hard-earned pensions and benefits. Our members who spend their lives serving the public across the state have already made great sacrifices at the bargaining table for the health and sustainability of California's public pension system. 

SB 1032, also introduced by Senator John Moorlach (R- Costa Mesa), would have allowed a public agency that contracts with CalPERS for employee retirement benefits to terminate its contract with CalPERS without fully funding its pension. For many years, public employees across the state have been making sacrifices at the bargaining table to help our communities keep up with pension costs. Some of these changes include increasing employee contributions and reducing pension formulas, which have already cut state costs by hundreds of millions of dollars. SB 1032 would have resulted in more employers breaking their promise of a pension with their dedicated employees. Encouraging more public agencies to withdraw from the CalPERS system does nothing to bolster the challenge ahead to ensure retirement security for our hardworking public employees. 

AFSCME and the labor community advocated strongly in opposition of SB 1032. The bill failed in the Senate Public Employment and Retirement Committee on a 1-3 vote. AFSCME will continue to monitor bills related to California's public pension system to ensure they are stopped if brought forward again in the future.