Assembly: Assemblywoman Fiona Ma

Take the Hunger Challenge

School is back in session and with it the lunchtime politics of the school yard. Who will trade a sandwich for a cupcake; who gets to sit at the "cool" table; who gets to take the car out for food. However, there is a quieter struggle going on over lunch for the thousands of children in California who depend on school-subsidized lunches, and whose families depend on government food stamps.

In San Francisco alone, the number of families who apply for food stamps has gone up 55 percent in the past 17 months. The San Francisco Food Bank estimates that fully one-quarter of children and seniors and one-fifth of adults in the City live with food insecurity. As the Assemblywoman for San Francisco, I am standing up against hunger for families and children.

Sadly, despite the growing number of Americans relying on food stamps in this tough economy, the United States Senate has voted to reduce food stamp spending by $6.7 billion. American families are facing a crisis of being able to feed their children, and this cut will only make the situation worse. In order to bring awareness of this issue to the fore, I am once again taking up the San Francisco Food Bank's Hunger Challenge, which is to live on the same food stamp benefits that needy Californians receive - $4 a day, or $28 a week, for all my food and drink. This is actually $1 a day more than last year, when challengers had to survive on only $3 a day. This is difficult enough to do for a week - imagine having to do it for years.

I encourage anyone who can to take on this challenge as well - simply visit www.hungerchallenge.com and sign up. The 2010 Hunger Challenge will take place Sept. 12 - 18.

In local food news, the newest Bay Area farmer's market is up and running at the Cow Palace. The Cow Palace Farmers' Market had more than 50 vendors participate the first day, and the vendors accept EBT cards. This is a great opportunity not only for the vendors and local families, but for Californians who rely on government help for food to have access to fresh, healthy foods, including fruits, vegetables and fish. We can beat hunger in San Francisco, and we can do it with local, healthy produce that supports our economy and puts food on local tables.

The farmers' market will be available every Saturday, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m., from July 24 through Oct. 16.

Closing pension loopholes is no easy task

A Moraga/Orinda fire district chief legally spiked his pension by selling back years of accumulated vacation days, jumping his final compensation from $185,000 to a whopping $241,000.

A chief of the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District increased his annual pension from $221,000 to $284,000 by cashing out unused sick leave, administrative leave and vacation leave.

Cases like these have tarnished the public's trust and have cast a shadow on an important benefit for our state and local public servants.

When pensions were first created, abuse was not anticipated. Certain loopholes have allowed for individuals to abuse a system that is meant to provide some financial security for our nurses, teachers, police officers and firefighters. Many don't know that more than 99 percent of all public employees make less than $100,000 per year. Pensions provide an incentive to do the challenging work that does not pay at "private sector salaries." These pensions, in most cases, are very modest. In fact, the average state employee pension is $2,100 a month and 78 percent of all retirees earn less than $36,000 a year. However, abuse has occurred and many cases have involved top level city and government managers.

I decided that enough was enough. I introduced Assembly Bill 1987 to eliminate abuses. Navigating the mine field of California's pension system has not been an easy task, but after six months of hearings and numerous sets of amendments, the final product will enact real reforms.

What Does AB 1987 Do?

Spiking: Under AB 1987, vacation pay is vacation. Employees will no longer be able to accrue years of vacation time, annual leave, personal leave and/or sick leave and cash it all in at the end. The only thing that will be counted is what is earned and payable in a year.

Ending Golden Handshakes: Large severance or settlement pay for a retiring employee will no longer be calculated into the pension equation.

Double-Dipping: Under AB 1987, employees will no longer be able to retire on Friday and be re-hired on Monday. A retiree drawing a pension has to sit out for at least six months before he or she can be hired by any other agency covered by the retirement system, even if they're working as an independent contractor. If the retiree wants to be re-hired, he or she has to come out of retirement.

Pension Oversight: Retirement boards will no longer rubber stamp the compensation amounts between the employer and the employee, and for the first time, oversight will be placed in the hands of the retirement system. All retirement boards will have the power to deny intentional spikes or manipulated pension payments. To ensure that retirement boards are properly reviewing information, AB 1987 requires regular audits and creates penalties for inaccurate or misleading reports.