State’s Leaders Targeted for Pension Education by CAPE Delegation

CAPE representatives descended on the State Capitol in late April with clearly defined  goals; to educate the decision makers about the relatively good financial condition of Los Angeles County and LACERA; and to find out which, if any, of the Governor’s list of pension reform proposals were intended for 1937 Act Pension Systems, including LACERA.

CAPE‘s delegation met with several legislative offices, including Assemblyman Mike Gatto, Assemblyman Roger Hernandez and Assemblyman Warren Furutani, Chairman of the Assembly Committee on Public Employee Retirement and Social Security.

The group extended appreciation to Mr. Furutani for his public stands against misguided reform groups to protect public employee retirement.  Furutani has a perfect understanding of the pension systems and the value of retirement security, and not just for public employees.  “Retirement security should be for everyone, not just for public employees,” explained Furutani.  “Those who complain about the disparities between private sector and public employees should be working for retirement security for everyone.”

CAPE representatives also met with legislative staff in the offices of Senator Gil Cedillo, himself a former Los Angeles County labor leader, and Assemblyman Isadore Hall.

The trip to Sacramento was organized around a meeting of statewide labor leaders participating in Californians for Retirement Security to discuss overall strategy and messaging to regain some of the ground lost to pension reform advocates.

CAPE’s delegation also met with the Governor’s Secretary of Labor, Marty Morgenstern, to hear firsthand about the Governor’s pension reform proposal.  Mr. Morgenstern, a former CalPERS board member, outlined the basic provisions and goals of the Governor’s pension system reform plan, and conveyed his thoughts about how some of the provisions could be implemented.  
Morgenstern said that the problems facing California’s state and local pension systems were created over a long period of time through a variety of legislation, ballot measure proposals and negotiated contracts.  Reforming the systems will require all three approaches to properly address the issues.

Morgenstern explained that Administration officials have not yet targeted any specific pension systems, either statewide or local, and the legislative language is still pending on most of the items.

The CAPE team emphasized the most important point repeatedly to Morgenstern; there is no problem in Los Angeles County.  Morgenstern said he was pleased to learn that finances for LA County government and for LACERA are in relatively good shape because responsible measures have been taken at every juncture.  

A full day of meetings in Sacramento revealed a great deal of new information about the positions and proposals coming from the state level.  Likewise, the team left the Capitol confident that state leaders had a greater understanding of CAPE’s position that broad-brush pension reforms could cause problems in local pension systems where none now exist.

The CAPE Board of Directors heard a full report from the team at their board meeting on May 12, and consideration of a future trip with similar goals is contemplated in the fall when the state’s budget issues will either be resolved or will require greater attention from CAPE representatives.

CAPE Director John Fallon (L),
CAPE Counsel Blaine Meek (C),
and CAPE Director Veronica Moser (R) at the State Capitol on April 28, 2011.