Watch CBS News

On The Money: Special Session Urged On Pensions

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) -- Senate Republicans today urged Governor Jerry Brown to launch a special session at the Capitol to fix California's broken pension system.

Senate Republican Leader Bob Dutton of the Inland Empire sent a letter to Brown asking him to focus immediately on pension reform through a special session of the Legislature.

In a Capitol news conference today, Senator Dutton was joined by Senator Mimi Walters of Laguna Niguel, Senator Tom Harmon of Huntington Beach and Senator Tom Berryhill of Stanislaus. They told reporters they want voters to ultimately approve a constitutional amendment on pension reform – to make sure the changes are not undone by a simple majority vote of the Legislature. They will need help though from Democrats to approve a pension reform plan.

The Senate Republicans praised Governor Brown for his 12-point pension plan – calling it a good starting point for reform.

With more than 12,000 government employees now collecting 6-figure pensions, there is growing pressure to address California's massive unfunded liability in pensions.

"It's anywhere from $100 billion dollars to half a trillion dollars," stated Senator Mimi Walters. The Laguna Niguel Republican added, "If we don't do anything about it, future generations are in jeopardy of not being able to retire after they have worked for the state."

But California's public employees are pushing back, saying there's no need to take a chain saw to retirement benefits. Bruce Blanning, Executive Director of the Professional Engineers in California Government asked, "Do we really want to cut pension benefits for a million and a half Californians?" Blanning added, "Do we want to take taxpayer money and turn it over to Wall Street profiteers for some sort of undefined benefit plan?"

But GOP plans for a special session appear to be short-lived. In a statement to CBS 13, Governor Brown stated that he "and Democratic leaders in the legislature have made pension reform a priority and are committed to working together to address this pressing issue when the legislature reconvenes."

That means pension reform will have to wait until January 4th – that's when the Legislature will be back in session.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.