The Independent

HJTA, California Pension Reform Score a Major Victory for the Taxpayers Judge orders Orange County Employees Retirement System to turn over public records detailing public employee pensions SACRAMENTO --- Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility (also known as “California Pension Reform”) have won a key victory in the battle against out-of-control pensions for state and local bureaucrats. A judge in Orange County has ordered the Orange County Employees Retirement System (OCERS) to turn over information on the lavish pensions of bureaucrats. OCERS must release the names, gross pension amounts, and the last employing agency from which the worker retired. “This is a great day for every taxpayer in the state of California who is fed up with subsidizing cushy retirement programs for government bureaucrats, and who wants to know the whole truth about what we’re paying for,” said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Associati...

Senate Republican Leader Dennis Hollingsworth (R-Murrieta) and Senator Bob Dutton (R-Rancho Cucamonga) issued the following statements concerning state budget deliberations. Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth - Senate Republican Leader: "The budget proposals Democrats have put forward so far are financially irresponsible or illegal. Only Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed a legal budget proposal that closes the $19 billion deficit without raising taxes. We share the same goals: fix the budget by reducing spending and without raising taxes, reform some of the biggest looming problems, and get the economy moving again by bringing jobs back to California." Sen. Bob Dutton - Vice Chairman, Senate Budget Committee: "I've become increasingly frustrated during this budget process because it has become clear that the only solutions Democrats have offered to close the $19 billion deficit are a mix of accounting maneuvers and tax increases. In fact, the Assembly Democrats' pr...

By Adam B. Summers and Jon Coupal  California’s $19 billion budget deficit seems to worsen by the day, but an even larger financial crisis is brewing in the state’s pension system. Over the last two decades, state lawmakers have bestowed massive pension and benefit increases upon government workers. Unfortunately, taxpayers are now getting the bills for these handouts. Recent studies estimate California has $500 billion in unfunded pension liabilities, not to mention over $50 billion in unfunded retiree health care liabilities. It’s important for the state to recognize how it got into this fiscal disaster—and how to get out of it.   California’s public pension and retiree health and dental care expenditures have quintupled since fiscal year 1998-99, going from about $1 billion to $5 billion this year. And retirement spending is expected to triple again—to $15 billion—within the next decade.  Part of the problem is the growth of state governmen...

This Could be the US within Years Let’s see… Greece is having trouble with unfunded liabilities, runaway debt and constituents that demand they live off the public largess while much of the world recognizes that the current situation as unsustainable. I don’t see how the US is much different. While there are rosy projections that we’ll eventually be decreasing our deficit over the next few years if all goes well, what’s clear even in the most optimistic government models is that in 2030 and beyond we have a runaway situation. We’re seeing states and municipalities struggling to control debt and most of it stems from the overly generous pension and healthcare obligations they’ve made to generations of public-sector workers that is unsustainable. While the private sector has cut jobs, real wages and forced increased employee contributions to benefits for a decade, public workers have pretty much maintained the status quo as if they live in a vacuum. I can’t blame the worke...

By Jon Coupal For those who work in the private sector, the dream of enjoying  a comfortable retirement has become just that -- a dream. The impact of the recession continues to be brutal, especially on older workers. “More than seven-in-ten (72 percent) workers over the age of 60 who said they are putting off their retirement are doing so because they can’t afford to retire,” according to a recent survey by CareerBuilder.  In California, with unemployment and under employment totaling over 21 percent – only Michigan with its decaying auto industry is worse off – older people being forced to work longer may regard themselves as lucky just to have a job. This is not a concern for those who enjoy the job security of working for California government.  The highest paid public workers in all 50 states -- some of whom are able to retire as many 15 years earlier than the private sector average with pensions nearing full time-pay -- continue to be shie...

Schwarzenegger's effort to release 40,000 prisoners put on hold by Supreme Court [Updated] | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times January 19, 2010 | 8:18 am Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's effort to release more than 40,000 prison inmates in California was placed on hold -- at least temporarily -- by the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court left unclear today the status of a court order in California that calls for the release of the prisoners to relieve overcrowding. The Republican governor wants to release the prisoners as part of an effort to reduce the state's nearly $20-billion budget deficit. The justices said they did not have jurisdiction to hear an appeal filed by Schwarzenegger, but said the prisoner-release order had been put on hold "pending review by this court." That suggests the justices may revisit the issue later. -- David G. Savage

California single-payer plan advances Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau Friday, January 22, 2010 (01-22) 04:00 PST Sacramento - As national health care reform grew more uncertain, the California Legislature on Thursday pushed forward a controversial proposal to create a single-payer health system in the state. The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 6-3 along party lines, with Democrats in favor of the proposal, which will be considered by the full Senate next week. The vote came two days after Massachusetts voters elected a Republican U.S. senator to fill the seat long held by Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy - putting President Obama's national health bill in jeopardy. Backers of the California plan said the timing was coincidental and due to legislative timelines. But political observers said the vote could come back to hurt state Democrats in November and viewed the move as motivated by the turmoil in Washington, D.C. Similar incarnations of the Cali...

January 8, 2010 By Jon Coupal For a decade, California state government has spent more than it receives in revenue. The result? Our state has the lowest credit rating of all 50 states, we rank in the top four in unemployment, near the top in tax burden per capita, and we rank last or close to last in a number of surveys that measure business climate. Not coincidentally, California small business bankruptcies are up 81% over last year. For lawmakers, spending is a compulsion. During the historic recall campaign of 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who correctly labeled the spending problem as an addiction, promised he would be the antidote. His pledge to “blow up the boxes” and bring fiscal sanity to Sacramento led voters to support his candidacy by a huge margin. Sadly, and perhaps predictably, the spending terminator quickly succumbed to a more regional strain of the Beltway fog – some have even likened it to the Stockholm Syndrome where, after just a few months in office, elected o...