Sometimes it takes a worst-case example to show that pension reforms in California remain elusive.
For years, critics have railed about spiraling public employee pensions, which dwarf retirement benefits for most private sector workers — those few who are fortunate to have any.
In 2016, state employee pensions cost taxpayers $5.4 billion, according to the state Department of Finance. That’s more than 30 times what the state paid for retirement benefits in 2000, before the effects of a new pension law kicked in. The law made 200,000 civil servants eligible to retire at 55 — and in many cases collect more than half their highest salary for life. CHP officers were allowed to retire at 50 and receive as much as 90 percent of their peak pay for as long as they lived.
Proponents sold the 1999 measure promising it would impose no new costs on California taxpayers because the California Public Employees Retirement pension fund would grow fast enough to cover the costs. They were off by billions of dollars — and taxpayers will keep paying the bills, for decades to come.
One longstanding issue is how the CalPERs system, which covers most police officers and firefighters, allows a disabled retiree to get much of their pension tax-free.
Critics for years have noted how some law enforcement officers and firefighters spend years claiming injuries and job-related illnesses, building up their case for a disability pension, facilitated by doctors and lawyers.
Consider a case making news right now. A former California Highway Patrol assistant chief who allegedly helped his son flee to Mexico after being accused of rape is eligible for a tax-free disability pension because the state agreed not to discipline him when it accepted his resignation four years ago.
Kyle Scarber, 53, has been receiving a pension worth about $125,000 a year since 2013, when the CHP accused him of assisting his son’s drive to the Mexican border and misleading Fresno County sheriff’s deputies by falsely reporting his son had gone missing.
The former CHP officer and his wife have pleaded not guilty to criminal charges for their alleged role in the getaway.
Scarber next week will ask CalPERS to uphold a decision allowing him to apply for the lucrative disability pension. “This is not about money to me; it’s not,” he told the CalPERS Board of Administration last month. “It’s about principles and doing the right thing. Doing the right thing in spite of adversity.”
Board members have said their hands are tied because of a settlement Scarber reached with the CHP, in which he agreed not to contest his dismissal. Had he been terminated for cause, the board might have voted differently.
If Scarber is allowed to proceed with his claim claiming job-related chest pain, fatigue, headaches and panic attacks, it will almost certainly be granted, since state law presumes that some medical conditions, such as cardiovascular ailments, are job-related for police and firefighters.
Scarber’s bid for a disability pension allowed public disclosure of his personnel records, accusing him of storing pornography on his work computer, using his rank to seek favors at the Fresno County jail while his son was in custody and creating a fake crime scene at his house on the night his wife, son and stepdaughter drove to Mexico. Their escape took place during Spencer Scarber’s trial. He was later captured in Mexico and sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Public safety unions say the disability laws are necessary to protect employees in dangerous professions.
No doubt. But some things don’t change. Back in 2004, the Associated Press reported that 55 of the 65 high-ranking officers who had recently retired from the CHP filed workers’ compensation claims within two years, “entitling them to lucrative disability settlements and medical pensions with tax-free income.”
