Statutes as Contracts? The 'California Rule' and its Impact on Public Pension Reform

IF 1 3区 社会学 Q2 LAW Iowa Law Review Pub Date : 2011-09-26 DOI:10.2139/SSRN.1933887
Amy B. Monahan
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引用次数: 14

Abstract

State and local retirement plans are underfunded by trillions of dollars, at a time when many states are facing decreased revenues and increased social needs. The result is that many states are currently giving active consideration to how best to address the problem of state and local pension plan underfunding given a state’s limited resources. In many states, however, courts have held that the statutes creating state retirement systems create contracts between the state and employee that prohibit the state from making any detrimental changes to the benefits provided to current employees within such systems, even on a prospective basis. This article examines the development of such a rule in California, a state that has been widely influential in this area of law, evidenced by the fact that courts in twelve other states have simply adopted the holdings of the California Supreme Court as their own. This Article illustrates that in holding that benefits not yet earned are contractually protected, California courts have improperly infringed on legislative power and have fashioned a rule inconsistent with both contract and economic theory.
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法规还是合同?“加州规则”及其对公共养老金改革的影响
在许多州面临收入减少和社会需求增加的情况下,州和地方退休计划的资金缺口高达数万亿美元。结果是,许多州目前都在积极考虑如何最好地解决州和地方养老金计划资金不足的问题,因为一个州的资源有限。然而,在许多州,法院认为,建立州退休制度的法规在州和雇员之间建立了合同,禁止州对在这种制度下提供给现有雇员的福利做出任何有害的改变,即使是在未来的基础上。本文考察了这一规则在加利福尼亚州的发展,该州在这一法律领域具有广泛的影响力,其他12个州的法院直接采纳了加州最高法院的判决,这一事实证明了这一规则的发展。本文说明,加州法院认为尚未获得的利益受合同保护,这不正当地侵犯了立法权,并形成了与合同理论和经济理论不一致的规则。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
1.60
自引率
7.70%
发文量
1
期刊介绍: Since its inception in 1915 as the Iowa Law Bulletin, the Iowa Law Review has served as a scholarly legal journal, noting and analyzing developments in the law and suggesting future paths for the law to follow. Since 1935, students have edited and have managed the Law Review, which is published five times annually. The Law Review ranks high among the top “high impact” legal periodicals in the country, and its subscribers include legal practitioners and law libraries throughout the world.
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