Politics

County Pension Plan Governed By State Law

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published April 7, 2011 at 12:34 PM PDT

This story was published more than 13 years ago.

The County of San Diego would have to go to the state legislature to eliminate guaranteed pensions for new employees.

The City of San Diego is planning to put pension reform to the voters. But the County of San Diego would have to go to the state legislature to eliminate guaranteed pensions for new employees.

The county is increasing how much its employees contribute to their own pension funds, but not considering replacing guaranteed pensions with 401k style pensions.

Harvey Leiderman, a Bay Area attorney, represents county pension plans, including San Diego’s. He says San Diego’s plan is governed by a state law passed in 1937, which works like a restaurant menu.

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“The legislature owns the restaurant and tells you what’s on the menu.” Leiderman said, “Counties that have opted to dine in that restaurant - if you will - get to chose from what’s on the menu, but they don’t get to suggest dishes or options. They have to go back to the legislature to get the menu changed.”

Johanna Schick, a spokesperson for the county pension plan, said 401K-style plans like the private sector offers are not on the county's menu.

However she said the county already offers some defined-contribution plans outside the '37 Act plan, and the supervisors would have the power to add different pension plans to their system.

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.