In California the public servants became the masters after looting the tax payers for many decades. And now they want the tax paying peons taxed even more to pay for their lucrative tax paid benefits and gold plated pensions.
Tax tax tax....
The public unions in CA are allowed to contribute to politicians who they negotiate their benefits and pay with. And to the legislators who have to approve them. The system is inherently corrupt and rife with bribery.
The current enhanced retirement formulas especially for peace officers and fire fighters is from Gray Davis who used fake projections from PERS investment gains to justify 3% per year x highest year of pay X years of service at age 50.
When he did that, the locals had to follow suit or not be able to recruit against the large state departments CHP, DOC etc. Some contracts allow for pay and benefits at the average of the 5 highest departments in CAL, so they all whipsaw each other into a never ending spiral.