California Can’t Afford to Wait Longer for Help.
Pass AB 1383 to strengthen the public safety workforce our communities depend on.
California’s law enforcement staffing crisis is a problem we can’t afford to ignore.
Departments across the state are struggling to recruit qualified officers, retain experienced personnel, and fill academy classes. Vacancies are driving forced overtime, accelerating burnout, and leaving fewer officers available when Californians call for help.
Chronic understaffing doesn’t just impact departments — it impacts the communities who call for help. In San Diego, residents now wait an average of more than 38 minutes for Priority 1 calls involving serious crimes in progress or threats to life.
For a domestic violence victim hiding from an abuser, a parent whose child is missing, or a family facing an emergency, those are the longest 38 minutes of their lives.
This agonizing wait is not hypothetical — it is the reality of public safety in California’s second largest city, and San Diego residents are not alone as the staffing crisis is plaguing communities throughout the state.
If we want safe communities, we need policies that make public safety a career people are willing to pursue and commit to.
While modernizing retirement benefits will not single-handedly solve the staffing crisis, AB 1383 is a step in the right direction.
Targeted. Prospective. Locally Controlled.
AB 1383 is not a return to the past. It is a carefully structured modernization that:
Preserves all of PEPRA’s fiscal safeguards — including employee contribution requirements, anti-spiking protections, and actuarial oversight.
Adjusts the maximum benefit factor age from 57 to 55 to reflect the physical realities of public safety work.
Aligns the pensionable compensation cap with the federal standard, allowing California to compete with neighboring states to retain and attract top talent.
Gives employers flexibility to create an optional 3% at 55 formula that can be adopted only through local collective bargaining.
The two mandatory provisions are estimated to increase the statewide employer share of normal costs by approximately $141 million annually across nearly 3,000 contracting agencies. While the cost will not be split evenly across CalPERS participating employers, that cost breaks down to an average of $47,000 per agency per year.
And that figure must be weighed against the cost of doing nothing: chronic vacancies, forced overtime, repeated recruiting and training expenses, disability retirements, burnout and longer emergency response times.
AB 1383 is PEPRA Plus 14 Years of Experience.
We now have 14 years of evidence demonstrating that PEPRA’s fiscal safeguards are working. CalPERS has grown substantially in both asset value and funded status since PEPRA was enacted. The path to growth has not been a straight line – and it won’t be. But over the last 14 years, as market fluctuations have occurred, the CalPERS system has proven it knows how to hold the line.
CalPERS latest financial results provide additional confidence that California can make this targeted investment responsibly. The fund finished the year with a portfolio valued at $637.1 billion, approximately $80 billion more than the previous year, while its estimated funded ratio improved to 85%. CalPERS | CalMatters
14.8%
FY 2025–26 return, vs. 6.8% target
$637.1B
Total portfolio value
+$80B
Growth over prior year
85%
Estimated funded ratio
Strong financial performance does not weaken the need for fiscal discipline – it reinforces it. AB 1383 is based on the documented reality of 14 years of PEPRA’s proven cost-sharing, anti-spiking, and actuarial discipline — all of which are maintained.
California can preserve all PEPRA’s safeguards while making measured improvements to stabilize a workforce in crisis.
AB 1383 preserves what worked while responsibly addressing what did not.
The Real Risk Is Inaction.
California’s elected leaders face a clear choice.
We can make a targeted, responsible investment in recruiting and retaining qualified public safety professionals — or continue paying the escalating financial and human costs of chronic understaffing.
The question is not simply whether California can afford AB 1383. It is how much longer our communities can afford to go without it.
Pass AB 1383.
Strengthen the workforce. Protect California communities.
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