09/23/2026
Marin's firefighters will continue to answer every call, every fire, and every emergency for the communities we serve, even after Governor Newsom chose not to stand with us. Marin Professional Firefighters, IAFF Local 1775, are saddened and disappointed by his veto of AB 1383.
In his veto message, the Governor wrote that PEPRA was born of a crisis made worse by past policy decisions, and that he does not want to return to that era. Neither do we. AB 1383 would not have taken us there.
The policy decisions that deepened that crisis included contribution holidays, retroactive benefit increases, and pension spiking. PEPRA's protections against every one of them remain law today, and had the Governor signed AB 1383, not one of them would have changed.
The bill's changes were targeted: a full retirement age of 55 instead of 57 for firefighters and police officers, and an update to PEPRA's cap on pensionable pay to reflect current wages. Under AB 1383, age 55 is still later than the age-50 formulas common before 2012, benefits stay capped at 90 percent of final pay, and any higher formula requires local bargaining.
The Governor himself acknowledged the bill was only a partial change to PEPRA. But he concluded that any change, even a partial one, was too much. We are disappointed that he took that all-or-nothing view of a measured bill the Legislature passed 33–0 in the Senate and 69–2 in the Assembly.
Firefighting is classified by the World Health Organization - International Agency for Research on Cancer as a Group I carcinogen – that means it is definitively “carcinogenic to humans.” In the last four years alone, Local 1775 has buried five members whose lives, and whose time with their families, were cut short by occupational cancer. Every additional year on the job means another year of exposure. Every year also means more risk of occupational injury which has cut short the careers of many L1775 members because of the physical and mental sacrifices this work requires.
We will keep working with the Legislature and California's next governor on retirement security that protects both firefighters and the reforms that keep our pension systems sound.
California Professional Firefighters - Team 10th - International Association of Fire Fighters
