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<br />8A <br />Page 8 <br /> <br />Miscellaneous <br /> <br />- AB 701 (De La Torre). Request: Sign/Result: Vetoed by Governor- Oct. 10 <br /> <br />This bili wouid have increased city council member compensation in general law cities for the first <br />time since 1984. <br /> <br />- AB1294 (Mullin). Request: Sign/Result: Vetoed by Governor- Oct. 14 <br /> <br />This bill would have allowed "ranked voting" as an election method in which voters rank the <br />candidates for office in order of preference, and the ballots are counted in rounds. <br /> <br />Governor's Post-Employment Benefits Commission Prepares for Final Report <br /> <br />The League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties (CSAC) <br />participated at the Public Employee Post-Employment Benefits Commission (PEBC)'s most <br />recent hearing on Oct. 10, in Fresno. <br /> <br />Established by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to assess California's public debt related to post- <br />employment benefits including retirement and health care, PEBC will produce a report in Jan. <br />2008 that outlines recommendations for California public agencies to address unfunded liabilities <br />for this debt. <br /> <br />Preliminary recommendations from PEBC staff on how to address unfounded liabilities in regard <br />to the state's debt in association with post employment benefits were presented to the <br />commission. In addition, the League and CSAC spoke to the commission on the organizations' <br />position on retirement reforms and submitted recommendations to PEBC developed by a <br />technical working group comprised of public employers. <br /> <br />The League's proposal for pension reform includes the need to provide full-career employees <br />with adequate benefits to continue their standard of living into retirement through fiscally <br />sustainable contributions by the employers and taxpayers. Public benefits must be supported by <br />proper actuarial analysis, viewed in the context of compensation, recruitment and retention. <br /> <br />The League also stressed the importance of addressing any abuses of the defined benefit system <br />and the fiduciary responsibility for the system by the California Public Employees Retirement . <br />System (CaIPERS), employers and employees. <br /> <br />The following is a list of recommendations brought forth by the League and CSAC at the meeting: <br /> <br />Working Group Recommendations <br /> <br />· Request the State Controller to recommend a simple and inexpensive procedure to <br />regularly retrieve and report Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPES) related data from <br />California public agencies. Consideration should be given to the experience of agencies <br />complying with the 2007 survey to PEBC. <br /> <br />· Seek federal guidelines, or in their absence. a letter from the Federal Office of <br />Management and Budget (OMB), which may involve legislation or regulatory change, to <br />ensure the federal government will pay its proportional share of payroll cost obligations <br />for bonded debt service used to pre-fund OPES trusts. <br /> <br />· Seek clarification from the Internal Revenue Service in a Revenue Ruling or some other <br />document that may be relied upon by public employers regarding technical issues that <br />would facilitate OPEB trusts including: <br /> <br />o Establishment of IRC 115 trust accounts for individual employee OPEB accounts <br />8 <br />