Guaranteeing Retirement Benefits

Amidst a large outcry against pensions and benefits for public sector workers, the Assembly Committee on Governmental Employees is considering a bill (AB 6536) that would guarantee public employees have a say in any changes to their benefits.

The bill prohibits a public employer from diminishing the health insurance benefits provided to retirees and their dependents or reducing the contributions which the public employer makes toward these benefits, unless also making an equivalent change for active employees.

This guarantee comes at a time when state governments are looking for ways to retroactively renegotiate contracts that were bargained in the past for now retired employees and were based on trust. His bill memo argues that reductions in benefit can occur through public negotiations, to save money in tough economic times, but the Taylor Law prohibits current employees from negotiating on behalf of retirees.
There is no Senate sponsor for this bill.