California Professional Firefighters

BC Study: Negotiated Pension Reforms Offset Impact of Financial Crisis

A new national study is vindicating the efforts of dozens of California local unions to negotiate common-sense changes to retirement security. According to Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research, pension reforms enacted at the state and local level will “fully offset, or more than offset, the impact of the financial crisis.”

The BC study looked at changes made in 32 plans in 15 different states, including CalPERS and CalSTRS. Their conclusion was that recently enacted pension changes “will, over time, improve the financial outlook for plans and help ease their impact on other budget priorities.”

“This study refutes all the ‘Chicken Littles’ who say that public employees aren’t sacrificing enough to reduce pension costs,” said Dave Low, chair of the CPF co-sponsored Californians for Retirement Security. “Whether it’s at the state level or at the bargaining table in more than 300 jurisdictions, public employees have been part of the solution to ensure public pension systems are financially sound.”

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