I can see the 4 1/2 year rule for medical retirees i.e. the firefighter or cop injured in the line of duty and medically retires. I can't really see it for regular retirees, but the ah well, how many times factor comes in.

This is total idiocy on the part of the California government.

My old joke was that we had a war with Mexico over who got Texas and we lost. I'm now hoping that California secedes and Mexico takes them over. I can't wait to see the level of corruption that occurs in Sacramento.

Amy,

Since you are allergic to snow and sunlight anyway, why don't you move to NM or AZ?

My friend was a civil service firefighter Captain. When he retired, he got to stop taking his blood pressure medicine. When his doctor expressed surprise in the improvement he told him "Don't ever let anyone tell you that stress can't kill you."

California is broke because the voters keep passing high-dollar bond measures that we can't repay.
I got hit on for a signature to put yet-another education bond measure on the ballot, and I politely told the man No Thanks. That week, we'd just seen a $500 million Lotto jackpot awarded... wasn't that supposed to pay for education needs?

That week, we'd just seen a $500 million Lotto jackpot awarded... wasn't that supposed to pay for education needs? -- jefe at August 12, 2012 3:18 PM

The problem with the lottery funding is the same with most other government programs.

Once the "additional" funding comes in they reduce the original funding by the amount of new money. So the schools don't see any more money, just the same amount from a different source.

Then the other portion is that funds are not in a "lockbox", but in the general fund. So the politicians can twist the wording and divert the money to some vaguely related use and aren't held accountable for it.

"California Is Employee Unions' Bitch" sums it up precisely. Unions are the prime campaign finance source for most state Dem candidates. If the unions want it, it is very likely the state gov will legislate it. If the unions don't want it, it will not get done. Latest examples of these two:

Unions want it: the non bullet, bullet train. Unarguably California cannot afford it, top Pols in charge of it backed away from supporting it, polls show people don't want it, state gov rubber stamps it per the desire of the unions.

Unions don't want it: Change to the retirement system. The system is woefully and depressingly underfunded, State is more than broke begging to raise taxes, state is cutting everything that isn't a dem sacred cow, every serious argument calls for the retirement system needing fixing, state gov doesn't touch the retirement system in any real way.

The undeniable reality: dems in Cali have an unshakeable lock on being the majority. Outside of a novelty such as the Terminator, the dem wins an election. Their coalition of voters, for instance unions, gives them a voting percentage floor that is just too close to 50% for them to ever be in real jeopardy of losing power. Considering their well documented appalling lack of financial stewardship, short of a economic boom in the ball park of the dot com boom, Cali is headed toward some kind of quasi bankruptcy. There's little if anything Californians like me can do about it. I simply hope to keep as much money from them as (legally) possible and hope like hell the tax raising propositions fail this November.