In a landmark ruling, the Fourth District Court of Appeal has upheld the right of citizens to reform pension plans using the initiative petition process.
The result – Proposition B, the pension reform measure passed by the San Diego voters in 2012, has been validated and restored. This is good news for taxpayers, but it is even better for California voters where numerous cities are facing budget deficits, even bankruptcy, due to spiraling pension obligations.
Proposition B was originally drafted by Lounsbery, Ferguson, Altona and Peak (LFA&P), which then administered the signature gathering process, and guided the subsequent election. Opponents of pension reform have spent the last five years challenging the measure, and the election process, both of which LFA&P vigorously defended. Proposition B has now been upheld. It is now the law of the land in California that neither bureaucrats nor labor negotiations can interrupt or interfere with the right of citizens to circulate an initiative petition for the purpose of enacting a local law.
For four decades LFAP attorneys have guided clients in all aspects of the election, including, but not limited to, drafting ballot measure arguments and advising on and defending the election process, and its election specialists have handled a score of campaigns resulting in successful outcomes. The Proposition B case is now the most recent example of the right of citizens to exercise their Constitutional right to enact a local law.