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9A Page 9 `-Y w~ §~ ~ 6 0... u3 1 4,,,f ~ ~ , R C~ae ~ E Sa.~ Y 1 F..` { A ._ IaY 7~". § i ~r~ ka Tide initial hear'irig of file PiibiiC Employee Post-Retirement Benefits Commission took place on Friday, March 9, in Sacramento at the State Capitol. Chairman Gerald Parsky provided an overview of the commission's goals and reminded the commission on the opportunity it has to rec- ommend asignificant policy fix to the pension and healthcare liabilities that face California. During the meeting, Chairman Parsky pointed out that the commission was not there to make policy but to examine how the state arrived at its current liability problem and torome yap with the most prudent and fiscally responsible solution. The commission also discussed separating pensions from healthcare to better evaluate remedies for both situations. open Meeting Act That wiii apply to the commission's deliberations. The commission's executive director will be Anne Sheehan, chief deputy director of the State Department of Fi- nance. Meetings will be conducted throughout the state, with a schedule to be released shortly. Local government representatives on the commission are Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle and Tulare County Supervisor Connie Conway. Fur- ther updates on this process will be reported in Priority Focus as events develop. .. . Gl Pi :.~ .n ~ c q 4 G N +Y 16 ., v +~ :.. ~ ... k m i i ~..: ' 4,1 ~ { - .y P Y ~L.,. 1•"!. ~ ' § f E v: .'~3 ~: :.~ Public participation was stressed and encour- aged throughout the meeting, with various repre- sentatives addressing the commission during the first public comment segment of the meeting. A brief round-up of those comments is summarized below: • Consider changing new hires to a defined contribution {DC) plan and raining the retirement age to 62 • Not making changes for current retirees and employees, but increasing the retirement age to 65 for non-public safety employees and setting the retirement age for public safety personnel at 55, with a minimurn service of 30 years to be eligible for full retirement • Focusing on the facts and ignoring the rhetoric in this highly charged issue Not making employees the victims during this process and not basing findings on a narrow view of a few bad years of the economy/stock market Early registration is now available for the League of California Cities' Legislative Action Days, which will be held on May 16-17 at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Sacramento. This is a unique opportunity to meet one-on-one with legislators and join your fellow elected officials and leaders around the state for a briefing on key legislative issues. Among the scheduled activities are two pre- session discussions hosted by the League's diversity caucuses -Civic Engagement by the Latino Caucus and the State of Black California by the African American Caucus. In addition, there wiii be general sessions covering infrastructure bond implementation, budget issues and pending legislation; and keynote speakers from the Schwarzenegger Administration and the Legisla- ture. Registration is free and available online at www. c~ itie~,Q,rg/events, along with a tentative schedule of events and speakers. The registra- tion deadline is May 10 and there will be no on-site registration. Please note, however, that the housing reservation deadline is April 23. In addition, the Attorney General's office gave the commission an overview of the Bagley-Keene PAGE 2 -PRIORITY FOCUS March 16, 2007 • Issue #11 Visit the League's Official Website••www.cacities.org