The Sacramento Bee's "State Worker" blog is reporting this afternoon that two proposed pension reform initiatives intended for California's November ballot have been abandoned due to an inability to raise the approximately $2 million that would be necessary to support a meaningful campaign. . .
Part of the failure may owe to the group's strategic ambivalence (one proposal would have moved workers into defined contribution plans, while the other would have called for a hybrid approach -- the proposals' backers were waiting to see which one polled better before soliciting contributors). Part of it may also have owed to the fact that California Attorney General Kamala Harris returned the initiatives with ballot language that portrayed them in a negative (and grossly misleading) light, scaring off financial backers who thought the scare tactics would doom the effort at the ballot box.
Either way, California is still sitting on a $500 billion pension shortfall that's only getting worse by the day. In this case, time really is money for California taxpayers.
Either way, California is still sitting on a $500 billion pension shortfall that's only getting worse by the day. In this case, time really is money for California taxpayers.
Join the conversation