Posted on 07/03/2007 9:08:41 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration on Tuesday lost a long-running court battle over its plan to sell bonds to cover the state's public employee pension costs.
The ruling by the 3rd District Court of Appeal could complicate negotiations over the state's already overdue budget. Republican lawmakers are holding up the $104 billion spending plan in part because they believe it will leave California with an unmanageably large budget deficit next year.
Tuesday's ruling may only add to that concern, depriving the state of more than $500 million to help close the estimated $5 billion-plus deficit in the 2008-09 budget year.
Schwarzenegger and Democratic leaders have proposed balancing the current, 2007-08 fiscal year budget with billions of dollars from a prior-year tax windfall. That money will run out by the time officials begin drafting the budget that begins on July 1, 2008.
Consumer rights and anti-tax groups praised Tuesday's ruling. They said it set an important precedent limiting the state's ability to borrow money to pay ongoing expenses without voter approval.
"If they had gotten permission to do this, we could have seen massive deficit spending," said Harold Johnson, an attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation, which fought the bonds. "It's a big victory and a sobering message for the spendthrifts in the Legislature. They can't use the credit card to cover ongoing costs of government."
Former Gov. Gray Davis' administration designed the pension bond plan.
In 2004, Schwarzenegger endorsed the plan. He proposed paying a portion of the state's annual contribution to the Public Employee Retirement System with money raised from a $560 million bond sale.
Schwarzenegger's administration argued the state did not need voters' approval to do so.
But a three-judge panel on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling that said voters - or two-thirds of the Legislature - had to approve the use of bond money to pay the state's pension obligation.
H.D. Palmer, spokesman for Schwarzenegger's Finance Department, said the administration would not appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court.
The administration did recently prevail in another court case involving welfare payments that would have cost the state about $500 million. However, California's nonpartisan legislative analyst calculates the state faces $2 billion in potential costs from other ongoing court battles.
Plus, I believe you have to buy your military years to count them towards your retirement.
I hear with the jail keepers, prison guards, it’s TEN years.
If "the Graduate" was made today, the guy whispering in Benjamin's ear would say, "Government"
C C R.........criminals, crooks, and reprobates : )
Maybe he can take out Harvard : )
We have some teachers in Oregon retired at well over 100%.
You hear wrong. You can search for the state of Cal labor contracts and look up the retirement benefits.
The one above is CHP and the correctional officers is the same. If you want to see the COs it's unit 6.
Don’t know anything about Oregon.
CalPers is also holding a lot of hedge fund securities backed by “funny” mortgages also.
It used to be 3% at 55. But several years the unions got the age dropped and it spread all over the law enforcement agencies local and state.
Then the stock market went down and everyone panicked since a large portion is invested in the market.
With the market back up, don't know why it hasn't "bailed out" the retirement funds.
Medical care may be too much to bail out with just the fund dividend.
Are you referring to mortgages from lenders outside the fund or the loans backed directly by CalPERS?
Wow! That's some expensive lawyers!
I should have added 3% at age 50.
LOL! No, but all those "pension plans" are loaded up with taxpayer funds, so they figure they may as well spend it.
Man, I wish I had a "pension plan" like government parasites get.
If you work in a prison or carry a 9mm for 20 years or more, you can ride the gravy train.
the illegals have been here for over 40 years. the unions and welfare recipients are bleeding the taxpayers dry. I know so many people who simply cannot afford to live here any more and are preparing or have already moved to Arizona, Texas, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, anywhere but here.
California is no longer welcoming to families except of course if you are an illegal alien in search of public services. The state govt will be happy to take from you to give to them.
They're the only government employees with pensions, health care for life, etc?
The cops got the latest by bribing the last two governors. This is the first gov that they can't just walk into his office and call shots. However they are currently negotiating the CO contract and he wants to run for the senate. So we'll see what happens.
“You can’t simultaneously be a welfare state and have open borders.”-Milton Friedman
I know what you mean. The last job I had with a pension plan was at Pacific Telephone. I left that place in 1991 and took the buyout. My current employer follows the standard 401K approach. If you want any kind of retirement, it's a "do it yourself" plan. Contribute all you can afford to the limit of the "company match". Since my company has that plan, I'm pretty much excluded from many other options. There won't be any taxpayer gravy train going in my bank account. I will be taxed on the money I set aside to pay for the pensions of those government employees. Real nice.
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