Calif. pension reform (401(k)-style accounts?), medical marijuana on lawmakers' agenda

[The Straight Story]

SACRAMENTO, CA - California lawmakers return to the state capitol this week to begin an election-year session complicated by the state's ongoing multibillion dollar budget deficit. Here are some of the top issues they will debate:

-- Public pensions: Gov. Brown wants to increase the retirement age, require local and state government workers to pay more toward their pensions and retiree health care, and place new workers into a hybrid plan that includes 401(k)-style accounts.

-- Medical marijuana: Attorney General Kamala Harris says lawmakers should clarify the state's 15-year-old medical marijuana law after federal prosecutors cracked down on pot growers and dispensaries. She wants the Legislature to decide if dispensaries and delivery services are legal or if patients must form collectives to grow their own marijuana.

-- Internet poker: Senate leader Darrell Steinberg previously delayed consideration of competing bills that would make Internet poker legal in California, but he now wants to see if California can reap millions of dollars by taxing the proceeds. Assembly Speaker John Perez is skeptical that Internet gambling can solve the state's budget problems.

http://www.news10.net/news/article/170906/2/Calif-pension-reform-medical-marijuana-on-lawmakers-agenda

[taught_me_patience]

1. I support this pension reform

Pensions have nearly disappeared from the private sector. Public employees should get a 401k, instead of their cushy pensions.

[msongs]

2. yeah drag everyone down to the lowest corporate level. nt

[badtoworse]

4. Defined benefit pensions are going away

State and local governments cannot afford them. The public will not support higher taxes to continue providing benefits they haven't seen in years, or even decades. There is simply no way to fund them anymore. Complain about the lowest corporate level all you want, but that is reality

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. I believe the Gropenator tried that too.

Brown may well succede