Three bills that would boost benefits and pay for California police officers and firefighters are wending their way through the Legislature with bipartisan support. But in a limited state budget year, their potentially high price tags might make them a tough sell to Gov. Gavin Newsom, reports CalMatters’ Adam Ashton.
Click Here to Subscribe to the California Political Review
The Senate’s appropriations committee later this month is expected to consider bills that would lower the retirement age of public safety employees from age 57 to 55; create a new deferred retirement program for California Highway Patrol officers and Cal Fire firefighters; and raise pay for Cal Fire firefighters.
In their support of the proposals, legislators said increasing incentives to recruit and retain first responders was such a priority that they’d cut other programs to offset the additional spending. During a June Senate committee hearing for the retirement age bill, state Sen. Tony Strickland praised emergency responders for their work and bravery during the Orange County chemical leak in May.
Strickland, a Huntington Beach Republican: “I still get goosebumps for these firefighters and their families that had to know that they’re putting their lives on (the) line to save that explosion from happening, which they actually end up doing. You can’t put a price tag on that.”
But the bills could drive up the state’s annual spending by hundreds of millions of dollars. The measure that would lower the retirement age for police and firefighters, for example, would require an additional $282 million in annual contributions to the California Public Employees’ Retirement system and increase its long-term liabilities by $4.8 billion.
Speak Your Mind