Pension reform lite' doesn't get us there

Sacramento Bee ^ | 8/28/12 | Daniel Borenstein - Staff columnist

[SmithL]

The compromise hammered out between Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic leaders of the state Legislature appears to be "pension reform lite." But it's hard to know for sure.

Three days before the Legislature's deadline to vote on the plan, the governor's news release announcing the grand deal lacked details needed to evaluate it intelligently. It was merely a skeletal outline of a supposed strategy to fix one of the state's most complex financial problems.

On Friday, legislators will vote on the complex bills that include the details. Most lawmakers will have no idea what's in them. It's an abhorrent way to conduct business, especially when purporting to solve such a critical issue.

That said, if the plan contains the details the administration claims, it would be an improvement over the status quo. But it would fall short of decisively fixing the system. The savings are impossible to determine because lawmakers plan to bypass the review such major legislation should be subjected to.

[Bernard Marx]

From the article: "The savings are impossible to determine because lawmakers plan to bypass the review such major legislation should be subjected to."

It's the California Democrat Way (thanks Pelosi, you skag): You have to pass the bill to find out what's in it.

[Carry_Okie]

The savings are impossible to determine because lawmakers plan to bypass the review such major legislation should be subjected to.

Which simply renders the current proposal into the empty posturing that is intended. The real deals will be cut later and totally in the dark by Democrat legislators totally beholden to government employee unions. If anybody thinks that will be anything less than an odious deal that changes nothing, then I suggest immediate remedial therapy.