Silver Fleece

State Sen. Wadie P. Deddeh (D-Bonita) calls it scandalous. Tax crusader Paul Gann calls it fleecing the taxpayer. Former Gov. Pat Brown calls it extraordinary. We’ll be content to call it a mistake that needs to be corrected.

“It” is the combination of state government pension factors that would send the retirement pay of some state officials off the charts starting next January. For instance, Pat Brown’s pension when he left office in 1967 was $18,000 a year. He now draws $62,300 while the current governor gets only $49,100 in salary (Brown also gets credit for his service as state attorney general). And Brown’s would go to $107,880 next year. While President Reagan spent only eight years in state service, his California retirement pay would jump from $28,818 to $48,792. Pensions of a number of other officials would soar accordingly.

This actuarial nightmare is the combination of a so-called super-escalator clause and the linking of state officials’ pensions to the current levels of pay for those offices. The escalator, based on the cost of living in 1954, was written into the pension law in 1966 but later was denied to anyone coming into office in 1967 or later.

The main trigger for the jump next year is the fact that a salary increase for elected state officials will go into effect then. The governor’s pay will go to $85,000, more in line with most large states; the state attorney general will get an increase from $47,500 to $77,500, and other constitutional officials from $42,500 to $72,500. The raises were voted several years ago, but cannot go into effect until the officials’ next terms start.

Deddeh is proposing a constitutional amendment that would break the link between pensions and the current salaries of the offices once held. Another Deddeh proposal, which already has qualified for the June ballot, would prevent a pension from going higher than the current salary for that office. The Legislature should act quickly to put the new Deddeh proposal before the voters this year.