Contact: Gerry Braun

(619) 533-4782
gbraun@sandiego.gov

Office of the City Attorney

January 12, 2016

CITY ATTORNEY STATEMENT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 12, 2016
Contact: Gerry Braun, Director of Communications: gbraun@sandiego.gov (619) 533-4782

Goldsmith statement on PERB appeal

City Attorney Jan Goldsmith issued this statement after todays unanimous vote of the City Council to
appeal Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) Decision 2464-M. That ruling found that the 2012
pension reform initiative Proposition B violated the Citys duty to meet and confer with employee unions.
"PERB is trying to create new law by declaring that a citizen initiative one that was placed on the
ballot by 116,000 citizen signatures and approved by 66 percent of citizen voters should be
unwound because its terms were not separately negotiated with union leaders.
The peoples right to initiative is guaranteed by the California Constitution. This right cannot be
bargained away in a back room, or stolen from the people by a government agency.
Even people who opposed Proposition B understand that the PERB decision is an unconscionable
overreach that gives union leaders the power to thwart the publics will.
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