Activist’s Ballot Initiatives Goes After Public Employees

Lanny Ebenstein, an editorial page writer with the Santa Barbara News-Press, has submitted a statewide ballot initiative to the State Secretary of State’s office for review that would eliminate all collective bargaining by California public employees. In addition, Ebenstein, who heads the California Center for Public Policy, has submitted another proposed initiative to tax all public employee pensions above $100,000 a year, and a third to limit the age at which public employees can retire with full benefits to 65 and for public safety workers to 58. Ebenstein, a libertarian-minded economist and longtime political activist, contends that public employee compensation is “the root of the financial crisis that plagues” all levels of government.