SACRAMENTO – Senator Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa) and Assemblyman Ed Hernandez (D- West Covina), the respective chairs of the Senate and Assembly Committees with jurisdiction over public employment and public pension issues, on Monday unveiled legislation that will implement all recommendations of the Public Employee Post-Employment Benefits Commission that required legislative action.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger established the commission in December 2006 to “identify the extent of unfunded liabilities” in public sector pension and retiree health care obligations, review and analyze options for addressing them and recommend a plan to the Legislature and governor.

The 12-member commission, chaired by former University of California Board of Regents President Gerald Parsky, released its 212-page report on Jan. 7. The report contained a comprehensive, eight-point plan containing 34 specific recommendations.

The bills introduced Monday by Sen. Wiggins, chair of the Senate Committee on Public Employment and Retirement, and Assemblyman Hernandez, chair of the Assembly Committee on Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security, are designed to implement commission recommendations requiring legislation.

The Hernandez bill, AB 1844, will help increase transparency with regard to public employee benefits through enhanced reporting requirements and will also help to curb fraud in the various retirement systems by providing those systems with the tools they need to detect and prosecute fraudulent actions.

The Wiggins bill, SB 1123, is focused on increasing transparency and oversight of public employee benefits.

The two lawmakers will serve as principal co-authors of each other’s bills.

“The commission report reflects the fact that this diverse group was able to come together around some very important issues,” Wiggins said. “I am optimistic that implementation of these key recommendations will help stabilize employers’ costs with regard to worker pensions and retiree health care – and do so without negatively impacting retirees.”

Hernandez agreed, saying he thinks it is “imperative that we move forward quickly this year to implement these recommendations as this will help to stabilize the costs of pensions and retiree health care for employers while making sure we keep the promises we have made to our teachers, police officers, firefighters and other hard working public employees.”

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