“No Tax-Funded Pensions for Embezzling Employees” says Jeffries
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.