There is a back story which state politicos will understand regarding
Steinberg’s remarks. Last year, the
legislature kept waiting for Gov. Brown to negotiate a deal with Republicans –
which never happened. When it became
clear it wouldn’t happen, the legislature slapped together a budget just before
the June 15 deadline so its members would get paid. (Voters had earlier approved a proposition
that cut off legislative pay if the budget deadline was not met.) The governor then vetoed the budget and the
state controller said it wasn’t technically “balanced” and thus cut off pay for
a few days until another budget was enacted.
Reporters in the recording ask Steinberg if the legislature wants to
wait for Brown to come up with a specific legislative bill on pensions (as
opposed to the general concepts he {Brown} has proposed). Steinberg in effect says that the legislature
has learned its lesson about waiting for Brown and this time will work on its
own.
Steinberg indicates that the legislature is willing to
contemplate Brown’s hybrid concept (mix of defined benefit and defined
contribution for new hires) but he also indicates he likes defined
benefit. However, the details are not
important at this point. You can read
the Bee blog at http://blogs.sacbee.com/the_state_worker/2012/01/darrell-steinberg-says-pension-reform-must-pass-strength-test.html
for more detail and listen to the recording.
The main point is that if UC
wants to carve out some kind of exemption for the changes in its pension system that the
Regents already enacted in December 2010, UCOP and the Regents need to start
talking with Steinberg & Co.
With some creativity, we can adjust the Regents’ plan to be a hybrid if
needed, say, by adding a small defined contribution element along the lines of
what we had during the two-decade contribution “holiday” which got us into
trouble.
Bottom line: The
governor is not the only player. Indeed,
he may not be the key player on pensions; UCOP and the Regents need to engage
the legislative leaders.
Listen to the
recording below:
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