Kevin Jeffries News

Yesterday Assemblyman Jeffries AB 1954 unanimously passed out of the Assembly Transportation Committee with bipartisan support. AB 1954 will authorize the Riverside County Transportation Commission to develop and administer a system of toll lanes in the medians of Interstate 15 between the San Bernardino County line and San Diego County line. The toll lanes will add 4 new lanes of capacity to I-15 to relieve traffic congestion, in addition to one new “free” lane in each direction being built with voter approved transportation sales tax revenues from Measure A.

“I am pleased that the Transportation Committee recognized the need for traffic congestion relief on I-15. This project won’t cost the state a penny, and that’s important when we have such a big budget deficit this year,” Jeffries said. “I also applaud the Riverside County Transportation Commission for their vision and dedication to improving traffic in the region, and their willingness to consider different approaches to increasing capacity on our roads, highways and freeways.”

AB 1954 now moves on to the Assembly Appropriations committee for further action.

AB 1858 would withhold taxpayer subsidies of pensions for felons who embezzle from the public

Sacramento— Today Democrats in the Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security (PERS) Committee voted against legislation that would have stripped the publicly funded pensions of public employees convicted of serious felonies. AB 1858 would have revoked the publicly funded pensions of a public employee convicted of any felony involving accepting or giving, or offering to give, any bribe, the embezzlement of public money, extortion or theft of public money, perjury, or conspiracy to commit any of those crimes arising directly out of his or her official duties as a public employee.

“I shake my head in disappointment at the fact that some legislators and union representatives feel that we should be protecting convicted felons at the expense of taxpayers,” Mr. Jeffries said. “This bill is good policy that the general public strongly supports. It’s too bad that union politics got in the way of good policy.”

This bill was prompted by a series of incidents in which public employees stole and embezzled from the taxpayers and violated the public trust. Speakers from a variety of unions spoke against the bill arguing that felonious public employees should not be further punished for a “mistake”.

“In my own district we recently had a school employee accused of stealing as much as $300,000 from the school lunch money funds, but under the current system, this person could still be eligible for taxpayer-funded retirement benefits for her service while she was ripping off taxpayers and children,” Assemblyman Jeffries said. “That’s the real mistake.”

“Unfortunately, the political leadership of the unions has once again proven that they care more about coddling the criminals in their membership than they do about promoting the rights and protecting the reputations of the overwhelming majority of their membership that would never dream of stealing from the communities they serve,” Assemblyman Jeffries remarked.

Since AB 1858 was killed on a 2-5 party line vote (with Republicans voting ‘Yes’) the bill can not advance further. Mr. Jeffries plans to address the issue again next session.

AB 1858 would stop subsidizing the retirements of felons who steal from taxpayers

In an effort to end the lunacy in which public employees who are convicted of felonies for stealing or embezzling taxpayer funds are then supported with taxpayer-funded pensions later in life, Assemblyman Jeffries will be presenting AB 1858 in Assembly Committee on Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security (PERSS) on Wednesday morning, April 9. This bill would revoke the publicly funded pension of a public employee convicted of any felony involving accepting or giving, or offering to give, any bribe, the embezzlement of public money, extortion or theft of public money, perjury, or conspiracy to commit any of those crimes arising directly out of his or her official duties as a public employee.

“While the overwhelming majority of public employees are honest, hard-working members of our community, there are those who betray the public trust and their fellow employees by using his or her position for their own personal benefit. This bill is intended to show that we won’t tolerate this type of taxpayer funded abuse,” Assemblyman Jeffries said. “In my own district we recently had a school employee accused of stealing as much as $300,000 from the school lunch money funds, but under the current system, this person could still be eligible for taxpayer-funded retirement benefits for her service while she was ripping off taxpayers and children.”

The Legislature has already applied these pension revocation provisions to judges and elected officials throughout the state. AB 1858 simply adds other public employees to the mix, in hopes of making would-be criminals think twice before defrauding the taxpayers and committing other abuses.

“AB 1858 will take a hard stand against government corruption. Public officials and employees have an ethical obligation to not abuse the authority granted to them,” said Jeffries. “By penalizing those who veer from public service to corruption, a powerful message will be sent to would-be abusers.”

Among those testifying before the PERSS Committee will be Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone, who first approached Assemblyman Jeffries about carrying legislation on this issue after a previous case of public embezzlement in Riverside County.

AB 1858 was rescheduled for hearing April 9th after late opposition from public employee unions forced a postponement from its original date.