Bill to Penalize Corrupt Officials Quietly Dies

A bill that would cut the retirement benefits of elected officials convicted of felony corruption charges appears to have died Friday for lack of support in a key Assembly committee.

The bill by Assemblyman Bob Dutton (R-Rancho Cucamonga) was prompted by San Bernardino County’s political corruption scandals. Among the public officials indicted in a series of controversies over the past decade was Supervisor Gerald “Jerry” Eaves, who retired in January before pleading guilty to one felony corruption charge. He now collects an annual state pension of nearly $50,000.

Under the bill, politicians elected after Jan. 1, 2005, would forfeit their retirement benefits -- except for their own contributions -- if they are convicted of a felony corruption charge.

But the bill failed to get the five votes needed Wednesday to pass the Assembly’s Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee. Instead of recording a vote, the committee members sent the bill to the Assembly Rules Committee, asking that it be assigned to another panel. But the bill remained in the rules committee Friday, missing a deadline to be considered. “It’s deader than dirt,” said Russell Lowery, Dutton’s chief of staff.

Another bill prompted by San Bernardino County’s corruption scandals was approved Tuesday by the Senate committee on Public Employment and Retirement. The bill, by Sen. Nell Soto (D-Pomona), would allow counties to reduce the retirement benefits of officials who use fraud to boost their county pensions.

County officials discovered several years ago that the county’s then-tax collector and then-public health administrator paid kickbacks to the chief administrative officer in exchange for hefty raises that resulted in higher retirement benefits.