California: Pension Reform Can't Wait

California governments at the state, county and city levels are facing the reality that the pension promises they made to their employees are unaffordable. Increasingly, governments are asking public employees to pay for a greater share of the cost of those promises. But those added payments are not enough, and so governments are tapping their general funds to make up the difference, at the expense of senior centers, pool hours, libraries, and police and fire services. Many also are laying off public employees as well. The problem is not going away, says the head of a state commission.