On May 6, 2008, the Vallejo City Council voted 7-0 to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy. At the time it was the largest city in California to do so. In March of 2009 I noted Judge Rules Vallejo Can Void Union Contracts. Vallejo foolishly refused to do so, and I predicted it would soon be back...

When Vallejo, California was facing bankruptcy, pension reformers warned officials there that unless the city takes the opportunity to trim back pensions for current employees that it would soon be back in the fiscal tank. One official there said the city didn’t want to take on the politically powerful California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS),...

Now that a federal judge in Michigan has properly ruled pension obligations are not sacrosanct (see Lesson for Union Dinosaurs) the spotlight is once again on union dinosaurs in California. Bankrupt San Bernardino foolishly did not attempt to shed pension obligations in bankruptcy, but perhaps it can now reconsider. What about Stockton and Vallejo? On April...

Editor’s Note:  An article published today in the Stockton Record’s reports “Deis: City won’t tackle pension reform.” Bob Deis is Stockton’s city manager. Apparently he doesn’t want Stockton to be the first to fall. As soon as one city restructures their pensions, every city and county in California will follow, because the alternative is a...

First Vallejo, then Stockton, then Mammoth Lakes and now San Bernardino.  As Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach told Bloomberg News, the bankruptcy dominoes are starting to fall. One California city after another — following a decade-long spree of ramping up public-employee pay and pension benefits, as well as redevelopment debt — are becoming insolvent. Not...