CALIFORNIA RETIRED TEACHERS ASSOCIATION CORONA NORCO, AREA IX, DIVISION 80 LEMON TWIST Volume 26 | Issue 4 | December, 2018

Keeping New Year’s Resolutions

By Ulda Revollo and Terry Marzell, Co-Presidents If we were all being totally honest with ourselves, we would admit that most people who make New Year's Resolutions do not follow through with them too long into the new year. But as we welcome 2019 together, “Let our New Year’s resolution be this: We will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity in the finest sense of the word,” suggests Goran INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Persson, the former Prime Minister of Sweden. And having made this resolution, let’s all further resolve to maintain it all through the year. During the holiday season, when we are surrounded by ”Peace on Earth, • CHS Madrigals perform Goodwill towards Men,” it’s easy to fall into the spirit of showing kindness, at Dec. CalRTA meeting patience, and generosity, uplifting one another with encouraging words, • Members plan visit to helpfulness, and altruism. We are especially mindful of the needs of those less fortunate than ourselves. We donate toys to bring joy to underprivileged local Hindu Temple children, contribute food to feed the homeless, and take the time to visit those • Governor ’s living in convalescent homes. We give a little extra to the people who work for Last Stand on Pension us, and we reach out to friends and family that we might not have kept in contact with over the past year. We spread cheer and best wishes to everyone Reform we meet. • New benefit for Kaiser How wonderful it would be if we could make a resolution to keep this members giving, loving, generous spirit going beyond the season. We think, if we all work together, we can inspire each other to honor the spirit of the season all • Membership Update year long. And we can all help each other to keep this resolution alive. Shall we all make a resolution to try? • December Treasurer’s Report • Scholarship Fund Update • Contact your elected representatives • Calendar of meetings

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Members plan January visit to Hindu Temple

By Margit Olson Our January meeting will be an outing to the Hindu Temple in Chino Hills. The BAPS SHRI SWANINARAYAN MANDIR is truly a beautiful place well worth a visit. We reserved a tour for our CalRTA group and any friends who might want to join us for Thurs., Jan. 10 at 9:30 AM. The address is 15100 Fairfield Ranch Road, Chino Hills (off the 71, exit Central Ave.). The tour will start at 9:45 AM and end about 11:15 AM and it is free of charge. The temple is handicap accessible (elevator) and walking is not strenuous. After the tour we are planning to go out for lunch. Various restaurants are nearby. I hope many of you can participate. Let’s expand our minds a little and learn something about another culture. Please call or email me if you can join us. Hopefully we can carpool as much as possible. Email me at [email protected] or call me at 951-737-3320. CHS Madrigals perform at December Meeting Scholarship Fund Donations needed The Corona High School Madrigals performed at the monthly meeting of CalRTA held Fri., Dec. 7, 2018, at the CNTA office in Norco. The performance has become a By Kathleen Shepardson highly-anticipated annual holiday event. As a thank you It is the holiday season, a season of generosity and gift, each student received a goodie bag of cookies donated kindness, and so I am requesting that you consider a gift by Division 80 members. The group of talented students is to our scholarship fund. pictured above, at top. Shown above, at bottom, are We need additional donations to make it possible to members of CalRTA enjoying the concert. give scholarships this coming June. Thus far we have enough donations to give one scholarship to a graduating senior from either Corona or Norco. We In Remembrance would like to be able to give several scholarships. If you would like to give a gift in memory of a valued colleague or relative, or in honor of a dear friend whom you admire, we would greatly appreciate your generosity. The students could use a boost, as current tuition charges are very high, and student loans can be a burden for decades. Dorothy Flanagan Please consider giving a gift to future teachers from our area. Thanks you! Our sincerest sympathies go to Dorothy’s family and friends

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Treasurer’s Report Membership Updates By Erma Paloma This is the Treasurer’s Report for By Beverley Rouse Dec. 7, 2018. As of the end of November, we have 339 members in the Corona- Norco Division of CalRTA. Of those, about half, or 166, use the “dues Checking account balance: $9,336.52 deduction” method of payment, which is what I use. My monthly dues are Savings account balance: $7,848.87 deducted from the amount STRS sends to my bank so that I never have to worry about writing a check. The other half of the members, 164, pay their 2018-2019 Scholarships goal: dues annually by check, usually when the state CalRTA office sends a $3,500.00 notice. The final group is the nine who are the Life Members listed at the front of your directory. 2018-2019 Scholarship donations to These numbers don’t match our directory exactly because the board has date: $386.00 requested that our directory include recent members whose membership has lapsed, but who may be in the process of sending a check to renew their Donations received at the meeting on membership. Dec. 7: Jean Kleih; Kathleen Send updates to the yellow 2018-2019 directory to Beverley Rouse Shepardson in memory of Pat Scott; at [email protected]. CalRTA Memorials for Dorothy I've listed new changes to the yellow 2018-19 directory below: Flanagan and Nancy Wojton. John Delay New phone number: (541) 338-7050 New health benefit New email: [email protected] for Kaiser members Betty Gallups 27275 Via Capri By Margit Olson San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675-5340 New from the insurance desk: If Her listed phone has been disconnected. you have Kaiser health insurance through the district, you will receive a Ben Gonzalez: Add “S.” before Cota Ave. new benefit. As of January 1, the Silver&Fit Exercise and Healthy Aging Lucia Guadarrama: Add -4914 to her zip code Program was added at no additional Ruth Heineman: Change her zip code to 92882-6897 cost. This means you can join a fitness Bruce Johnson: 3883 Buchanan St., Spc. 184 facility such as LA Fitness for free. You should receive a letter from Lucille Madry: PO Box 5103 Kaiser Permanente with the details of Oceanside, CA 92052-5103 the new exercise program. Please check your mail. The website SilverandFit.com Jennifer Price will give you a list of all the 303 W. Pennwood St. participating gyms. Call 1-877-427-4788 Meridian, ID 83642-8639 to find out if you are eligible and to get the number you will need to enroll in a Leonora Prince: Remove her email address. gym for free. Hopefully many of you will use this Leeann Woodruff opportunity to get into better shape. 24369 Sunset Vista Dr. Let’s get healthier in 2019. Corona, CA 92883-4023

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Jerry Brown’s Last Stand on Pension Reform

By Judy Lin, CALmatters Reprinted from the Desert Sun. Originally published Dec. 9, 2018

Six years ago, as strained to emerge from the Great Recession, Gov. Jerry Brown worked a minor political miracle—a rebalancing of the massive state pension systems for public employees. Shuttling between unions and the strapped governments on the hook for public sector benefits and paychecks, Brown scaled back some of the rules and perks that have made public sector workers more secure, arguing that the pain would be worth it. Results were mixed: The largest benefit rollback in state history yielded some savings, but not enough to entirely fix a pension commitment that taxpayers are increasingly finding hard to manage. Now, as Brown prepares to leave office—his own pension at hand, after five decades in public service—even that hard-won modicum of fiscal change could be loosened. In a case that went to oral arguments this week, the California Supreme Court is weighing a key legal precedent that could restore the generous pension formulas Brown worked so hard to tighten. Brown, who at 80 has already surpassed the average retirement age of state workers by 22 years, predicts that he’ll win. But Wednesday’s proceedings made it clear that workers’ arguments are also compelling. Whatever the ruling, Brown's successor, , will have to cope with the outcome. And—though the state’s unfunded liabilities persist, and economists warn another recession could be just around the corner—Newsom will face a very different political landscape. Should California land in another downturn, Brown’s pension reform miracle could be difficult, if not impossible to repeat. The case heard by the high court on Wednesday involves the California Rule, a legal precedent that requires the state to compensate public employees if their retirement benefits are lessened. In a challenge brought by Cal Fire Local 2881, the firefighters union argues that the ability to purchase additional years of service credit toward retirement, known as “airtime,” is a pension benefit that employees rely on as part of their decision to go into public service. Brown’s attorneys counter that airtime was never intended by the Legislature to be a vested right and never negotiated through collective bargaining. Therefore, the state can take it away. Everyone agrees that workers are entitled to the pensions they earn for work that’s already been done. And the argument might seem to be over a procedural technicality on the surface. But if the court sides with Brown, it could open the possibility of future governors and legislatures modifying current employees’ pensions for prospective work, and perhaps setting a new precedent in which already negotiated benefits are fair game. If the court sides with the union, it would bind the state’s finances and commit taxpayers to paying already expensive retirement benefits. On a larger scale, the case also could mark the end of a Brown-led era of fiscal reform in Sacramento. A blue-state Democrat with a lifelong tendency against the spending his party was known for, the frugal Brown had the experience and political capital to challenge public employee unions who typically hold powerful sway over Democratic politicians. Newsom is newer and younger, and won his office in part with strong union backing. In campaign statements, he pledged to unions that he will protect their pensions; in fact, state firefighters cited Newsom’s commitment as one reason for giving the governor-elect their endorsement. Meanwhile, Democrats, who have been a majority for some time, also with strong backing overall from organized labor, only gained ground in the November election. As the Legislature convened on Monday, they had, not just a supermajority but a “mega-majority” in both chambers. Both of those developments favor the priorities of public employee unions, as does the seemingly flush economy of the moment. California is projecting a $15 billion surplus this year, compared to a $27 billion deficit when Brown returned for his second stint in the governor’s office. The unemployment rate stood at 4.1 percent in October, compared

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Jerry Brown’s Last Stand, continued from Page 4

to 12.1 percent when Brown was sworn in in January 2011. When the Great Recession cratered state finances and the public gained awareness of generous retirement benefits, Brown was able to leverage those issues to successfully champion a package of changes from the Public Employee Pension Reform Act of 2012 with tacit approval from labor leaders. While Brown did not get key changes needed to slow down the growth in retirement costs, the Legislature did agree to what the governor called the “biggest rollback to public pension benefits in the history of California.” Among other money-saving measures, Brown was able to raise the retirement age for new employees, ban retroactive pension increases, stop practices such as hoarding vacation and sick time to inflate calculations for retirement benefits and ban the purchase of additional years of service, known as “airtime.” Multiple labor unions sued, arguing that Brown’s 2012 changes infringed on their employer’s contractual obligation to provide retirement benefits at the level that was promised on their first day of work. That premise—the California Rule—left state and local governments with little room for savings. Prior to Wednesday’s high court hearing, lower courts weighed in on the precedent with mixed messages. In a 2016 ruling upholding a lower court’s decision, Justice James A. Richman of California's First District Court of Appeal broke from decades of court decisions in finding the Legislature can alter pension formulas for current employees and reduce their anticipated retirement benefits. He wrote that a public employee has a right to a “reasonable” pension, not “the most optimal formula of calculating the pension.” But another appeals court came to a different conclusion about the “California Rule” by deciding in favor of union employees in Alameda, Contra Costa and Merced counties. While the justices agreed there are limits to the California Rule, they said benefit adjustments require “compelling evidence” showing that the changes are necessary to the success of the pension system. The Supreme Court agreed to take up the issue and is first hearing the firefighters’ case over whether airtime is a vested right. While Adams, for the firefighters union, said he hopes the court will recognize that airtime is earned through service, Brown’s lawyers argue taking away the optional benefit doesn’t mean the employee gets less in pensions. Brown’s lawyers wrote in a brief that although airtime was thought to be cost neutral, employees could purchase fictional years of credit “often as much as 40 percent below the actual cost.”

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Jerry Brown’s Last Stand, continued from Page 5

Today, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System is carrying $111 billion in unfunded liabilities and the California State Teachers Retirement System faces $76 billion in unfunded liabilities. During Wednesday’s oral argument in Los Angeles, the justices seemed to be searching for where to draw the line that would protect workers without giving them limitless retirement benefits. Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye questioned labor attorney Greg Adam about how airtime is protected by the state Constitution when the employee hasn’t performed the work to earn it. And Justice wondered aloud whether pension rights extend to life insurance, health insurance or a sabbatical leave that may be offered during employment. Then Liu turned to Brown’s attorney, Rei Onishi, to ask if the state has a right to change benefit formulas midstream in a worker’s career, which strikes at the heart of the California Rule. Onishi said yes if it applies to prospective work. He reasoned that because a worker hasn’t earned the benefit, it’s not an impairment. That brought on questions from Justice about whether the Legislature could wipe away benefits for a class of existing state employees going forward. Onishi responded that that wouldn’t be likely because “other cases of this court have said you have a right to a substantial and reasonable pension as soon as you begin employment. I think completely terminating the system going forward, prospectively, would certainly raise questions about that.” Though the hearing focused on legalities, the realities of Democratic politics weren't far from the courtroom. In an unusual move, the governor had his own attorneys argue the case rather than Attorney General —a choice that fueled speculation that Brown hoped to shield his attorney general, a Democratic elected official, from union pressure. And prior to the hearing, the court dodged a thorny question about whether Brown’s most recent nominee to the bench could be impartial. Last month, Brown nominated long-time aide Joshua Groban, who would have provided him counsel on many legal matters. While it wasn’t known if Groban was involved in the case brought by the firefighters union, there was an open question about whether he would have to recuse himself—a question successfully sidelined when Groban’s confirmation hearing was set for Dec. 21, after this week’s arguments. Governor-elect Newsom has said he would prefer to stay out of the courts to resolve pension disputes. When CALmatters asked him if the state should be allowed to renegotiate the future benefits of current workers, he suggested a legal fight wasn’t necessary. “Even with the California Rule, we have the tools through collective bargaining to negotiate reforms and commensurate offsets,” Newsom said then. The economy might change his mind. Economists have been warning of an inevitable downturn; Wall Street losses translate to deficits here because of California’s reliance on capital gains taxes. That vulnerability, even more than politics, says Jack Pitney, professor of government at Claremont McKenna College, could force Newsom to confront pensions. “Despite his reputation for being more progressive, the economic reality might end up forcing prudence,” Pitney said. “As he contemplates the governorship, he’s aware of the constraints. He’s a smart guy and he knows how difficult the pension situation is going to be in the years ahead.”

CALmatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

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Contact Your Elected Representatives

State Officials Federal Officials

Governor Jerry Brown President Donald Trump 1st Floor State Capitol, Suite 1173 The White House Sacramento, CA 95814 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Phone: (916) 445-2841 Washington, DC 20500 FAX: (916) 558-3160. Comments: (202) 456-1111 https://govapps.gov.ca.gov/gov39mail/ Switchboard: (202) 456-1414 FAX: (202) 456-2461 Senator Richard Roth (D-31) TTY/YDD Comments: (202) 456-6213 Capitol Building, Room 4032 Visitors’ Office: (202) 456-2121 Sacramento, CA 95814 https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ Phone: (916) 651-4031 https://sd31.senate.ca.gov/send-e-mail U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein (D) Hart Building #331 Assemblywoman Sabrina Cervantes (D-60) Washington, DC 20515 Capitol Office, PO Box 942849, Room 2016 Phone: (202) 224-3841 Sacramento, CA 95814 https://www.feinstein.senate.gov Phone: (916) 319-2060 FAX: (916) 319-2160. U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D) 4740 Green River Rd., Suite 310 Hard Building #112 Corona, CA 92882 Washington, DC 20515 Phone: (951) 371-6860 Phone: (202) 224-3553 https://lcmspubcontact.lc.ca.gov FAX: (202) 224-2200 https://www.harris.senate.gov/contact/email Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez (R-67) Capitol Office, PO Box 942849, Room 4009 Congressman Ken Calvert (R-42) Sacramento, CA 95814 Rayburn Building #2201 Phone: (916) 319-2067 Washington, DC 20515 https://lcmspubcontact.lc.ca.gov Phone: (202) 225-1986 400 S. Vicentia Ave., Suite 125 Corona, CA 92882 Phone: (951) 277-0042 https://calvert.house.gov/contact

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MISSION STATEMENT: Calendar of Meetings: Jan. 25, 2019 Board Meeting 9:00 a.m. CNTA The mission of California Retired All members are welcome to attend. Teachers Association is to mobilize retired Feb. 22, 2019 General Meeting 10:30 a.m. CNTA teachers to advocate Presentation: by representatives from CNUSD and CNTA. for an independent, Election of officers. Soup, salad, and bread potluck. financially secure, and fulfilling life, and to March 22, 2019 Board Meeting 9:00 a.m. CNTA provide all educators All members are welcome to attend. with the tools to achieve a secure April 26, 2019 General Meeting 10:30 a.m. CNTA retirement. Free catered luncheon. All members are welcome to attend.

June 7, 2019 General Meeting 10:300 a.m. Graziano’s View our web page at Recognition of volunteers. Installation of new officers. https:/div80.calrta.org Aug. 23, 2019 Board Meeting 9:00 a.m. CNTA Contact the Corona Planning meeting. All members are welcome to attend. Norco Division at CNTA is located at 1189 Mountain Ave., Suite 100 Norco, CA 92860. [email protected] Graziano’s Pizza is located at 3300 Magnolia Ave., Corona CA 92879.

Beverley Rouse, Membership Corona Norco, Area IX, Division 80 16471 Brightridge Lane Riverside, CA 92503

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