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The 2017 Pension Political Power 25: Tani Cantil-Sakauye

No. 7 Tani Cantil-Sakauye, California Chief Justice

By Peter Vasiliev

February 14, 2017

< 25 Top Pension Power Players

7. Tani Cantil-Sakauye

California Chief Justice

The fate of California’s defined benefit pensions — and potentially those in every state — now lies in the hands of California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, 57, and her six fellow judges. If California’s top court rules that promised pension benefits can be taken away, that may open the door to drastic pension overhauls, removing an obstacle that has long frustrated would-be reformers around the country. For public employee retirees in Marin County, it could be “good-bye, pension spiking; hello, benefit adjustments.” The story so far: In 1955 the Supreme Court of California ruled that under the state’s commerce clause, benefits that had been promised to workers could not be taken away — though reasonable modifications were allowed if they included some comparable new advantages. This decision, known as the California rule, has been used by courts throughout the U.S. and its territories to stave off pension reform. Last year, though, a San Francisco court unanimously upheld a Marin County pension reform effort. The decision was challenged, and Cantil-Sakauye’s court has agreed to hear the case. — Imogen Rose-Smith

The 2017 Pension Political Power 25