Gov. Jerry Brown signs pension reform bill

◼ Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 340 in Los Angeles this morning, making changes to the pension system for state and local government employees. - Sacramento Bee

"This is the biggest rollback to public pension benefits in the history of California pensions," Brown said in a statement. "We're lowering benefits to what they were before I was Governor the first time and reducing costs by up to $55 billion in PERS and billions more in other local pension systems. Under the new rules, employers and employees alike are going to contribute their fair share of the costs, resulting in a more sustainable system."

The legislation caps benefits, increases the retirement age, stops abusive practices and requires state employees to pay at least half of their pension costs.