Democrats Looking at "Stacked Hybrid"
Details are starting to emerge of the pension changes
legislative Democrats are looking at with California Governor Jerry
Brown's administration. Democrats are leaning towards a different
kind of hybrid pension system than the one Brown had originally
proposed.
Listen now:
Brown's hybrid would split pension contributions: part
"defined benefit" - or traditional pension plan - and part "defined
contribution," like a 401k. But Senator Gloria Negrete
McLeod, who co-chairs the conference committee working on pensions,
says Democrats are looking at a system called a "Stacked
Hybrid." Here's how it could work: All contributions up to a
certain salary level would go into a traditional plan.
Anything above that would go into a "cash balance" plan with a
lower rate of return.
Negrete McLeod: "Hopefully,
everyone can come to some compromise. Is everybody going to
be happy? No. But if everybody's a little bit unhappy,
then I think we've done our job."
Republican Senator Mimi Walters says anything less than the
governor's proposal won't sit well with her party. A union
coalition says it wouldn't be thrilled with this hybrid system but
could deal with it as part of overall pension reform.
Brown also wants to raise the retirement age for non-public
safety employees to 67. Democratic lawmakers are looking at a
range of retirement ages instead.
Asm. Gorell Gets Warm Welcome Back
California Assemblyman Jeff Gorell is back at the Capitol
after a year-long tour of duty in Afghanistan in the U.S. Navy
Reserve.
He received a big round of applause at Monday's floor session
after being introduced by Speaker John Pérez.
Pérez: "On behalf of all of us,
I wanted to welcome back our returning hero, Mr. Gorell. We
are all so happy to have you back with us safe and
sound."
Gorell says he's ready to get back to work:
Gorell: "This deployment really
has allowed me to see how petty the partisanship can get and can be
and to try to avoid that at all costs, because really, it just
boils down to being good public servants and to providing good
governance."
Another Republican Assembly member with military service,
Nathan Fletcher, recently left the party … citing his frustration
with partisan bickering. Gorell says he shares Fletcher's
frustrations … but wished Fletcher had stayed in the GOP so they
could work together on reforming the party.
Bill Seeks to Change New Vehicle
History Report Law
A battle is shaping up at the California Capitol between auto
dealers and private companies that offer vehicle history reports
like CarFax.
A new state law that takes effect in July requires dealers to
provide consumers with a vehicle history report from a government
database … for any vehicle that's been salvaged or junked.
The private companies are backing a bill by Democratic State
Senator Juan Vargas. It would let dealers offer either the
government report or a private one.
Vargas says government reports often leave out accidents and
other vital information.
Vargas: "The government will be
luring you in now, saying this car is fine - there's no warning on
this car. You're gonna think, oh, the government says this
car is fine. The reality is, it's not fine."
The auto dealers say lawmakers debated this very issue last
year and specifically chose not to include such a choice in the new
law. They argue CarFax is trying to undermine the law and
should instead provide the government report themselves.
The measure goes up for its first committee hearing
Tuesday.
