Pension attack takes next step
Attorney General releases official summary; signature gathering underway

The deadly 2016 pension-gutting ballot initiative designed to bypass collective bargaining and threaten the retirement security of all public employees has passed another milestone, receiving a official title and summary from California Attorney General Kamala Harris.

Titled the “Public Employees. Pension and Retiree Healthcare Benefits. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.” the ballot measure “eliminates constitutional protections for vested pension and retiree healthcare benefits for current public employees.”

Employees hired in January 2019 and beyond would not receive the kind of guaranteed pensions current state employees receive.

Changes in pensions—cost of living adjustments, vesting, pension calculations and age of retirement eligibility—would be subject to voter approval, even if they are successfully bargained in a contract.

The initiative must gather more than 585,000 valid signatures from registered California voters in order to appear on the 2016 ballot.

“We can stop this dangerous initiative by having conversations with our coworkers, family and friends in the community to encourage them not to sign the petition,” said President Walker.