Did you know that Lou Correa was principal co-author of 3%@ 50 pension?

Lou Correa. Principal coauthor of public pension disaster

How many of us remember SB 400 introduced in the California Legislature by Senator Ortiz?

That 1999 Bill, providing 3%@50 pension benefits for public safety unions, was Chaptered by the CA Secretary of State on Sept 29, 1999 and signed into law by former governor Davis.

While those of us living in Orange County may not be familiar with the name Deborah V. Ortiz of Sacramento, we certainly know the name Senator Lou Correa.

At the Rush Limbaugh Fan Club meeting this morning, invited guest speaker Stephen Frank provided an update on our current [unreported] state deficit. During his presentation Steve reminded us of the role played by than Assemblyman Lou Correa in creating the pension increase that is driving us into bankruptcy.

As I research the history of the bloated pension system that is bankrupting our state I found several articles including one by the Register dated 12-17-09 where they called  SB 400 “one of the worst financial decisions in the state’s history.”

For Assemblyman Correa to be the principal co author from the Assembly side of the aisle, with his BA in economics from Cal State Fullerton, along with an MBA and Juris Doctor from UCLA, makes me very angry. Did he expect the dot com tidal wave to continue forever?

How deep is the hole? The April 6th NY Times “Finds Half-Trillion-Dollar Gap”

“Applying fair-value accounting, the pension shortfall is around $425 billion, plus a market loss of $110 billion. That total is far from the $55 billion officially reported in 2008.”

An independent analysis of California’s three big pension funds has found a hidden shortfall of more than half a trillion dollars, several times the amount reported by the funds and more than six times the value of the state’s outstanding bonds. 
 
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says that unless legislators act on pension reform, programs will have to be cut.

The analysis was commissioned by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has been pressing the State Legislature to focus on the rising cost of public pensions. Graduate students at Stanford applied fair-value accounting principles to California’s pension funds, using a method recently devised by two economists working in Illinois, Joshua D. Rauh of Northwestern University and Robert Novy-Marx of the University of Chicago.”

Full NY Times story link below.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/business/07pension.html?_r=1&src=me

If I am not mistaken Lou Correa also broke the 2008 Taxpayer Protection Pledge

Should voters reward Lou on Nov 2nd? I don’t think so.

 


About Larry Gilbert