California’s school districts, counties and cities are fiscally strapped. And the public employee unions just cut their noses off to spite their faces, adding to the consternation.
As a member of the California Assembly, Lorena Gonzalez-Fletcher felt that organizations and school districts should be held financially responsible for the bad acts of their employees who committed childhood sexual abuse. So, she used a 2013 bill, Senate Bill 131, authored by then state Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, as her template. Even though then-Gov. Jerry Brown had vetoed it.
How did Gonzalez-Fletcher intend to teach these entities a lesson? By extending the statute of limitations. Never mind that it would bring out aggressive law firms advertising for cases. Never mind if many of the supposed culprits may already be deceased and witnesses scarce. Never mind that these organizations had already completed a rigorous legal battle with previous claims and thought they were finished. And never mind that their insurance carriers would most likely not cover these liabilities and would certainly raise premiums going forward.
Gonzalez-Fletcher’s crusade first started with her introduction of Assembly Bill 3120 in 2018. It sailed through the Legislature.
When it came to the Senate Floor near the conclusion of the Session, on August 28, I would be the only State Senator to speak in opposition to her bill for what I thought were the obvious reasons:
“I mentioned a couple times [today in prior remarks about] the financial condition of our school districts. It’s dismal. And extending the statute of limitations on childhood sexual assault civil claims . . . may devastate certain districts in our state and it will make obtaining insurance next to impossible. It could be the straw that also breaks the backs of schools and numerous businesses and nonprofits.
“And here we have a bill that hammers potentially a lot of agencies that have kind of thought they were through and done, and now we’re opening up a tough issue, and it could be fiscally detrimental to many, and I . . . would recommend a ‘no’ vote.”
My Senate Floor speech was to no avail as only Senator Ted Gaines and I voted against AB 3120.
Fortunately, then Gov. Jerry Brown, the fiscal adult in the room while he served his second two terms as governor, understood what I tried to say in my very brief remarks. He vetoed AB 3120. Why? For the same reason he vetoed SB 131 years earlier.
In his veto statement, he gave a history of statutes of limitations:
“Even though valid and profoundly important claims are at stake, all jurisdictions have seen fit to bar actions after a lapse of years.
“The reason for such a universal practice is one of fairness. There comes a time when an individual or organization should be secure in the reasonable expectation that past acts are indeed in the past and not subject to further lawsuits. With the passage of time, evidence may be lost or disposed of, memories fade and witnesses move away or die.”
Brown reminded the State Assembly that in 2002, the California Legislature passed a similar bill extending the statute by only one year with SB 1779.
What happened then?
As Brown’s veto message explained: “Over 1,000 claims were filed against the Catholic Church alone, some involving alleged abuse as far back as the 1930s. By 2007, the Catholic Church in California had paid out more than $1.2 billion to settle the claims filed during this one year revival period. Other private and non-profit employers were sued and paid out as well.
“The bill now before me, AB 3120, is broader than SB 131, does not fully address the inequity between state defendants and others, and provides a longer revival period for otherwise barred claims. For these reasons, as well as those previously enumerated in the veto message referenced above, I cannot sign this bill. Sincerely, Edmund G. Brown Jr.”
This did not deter Gonzalez-Fletcher. She had a Plan B: Wait until the following year when California would have a new governor who was not as fiscally conversant or literate as Brown. Her revised version of AB 3120 was Assembly Bill 218. The very next year, in 2019, when she served as chair of the powerful Assembly Appropriations Committee, it went through the Legislature with many Republicans abstaining.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who talks a big talk when presenting his annual budgets every January 10th, has proven to be a fiscal failure. He has worsened the state’s balance sheet (statement of net position) during his time in office, moving California closer to the bottom of the fifty states based on per capita fiscal rankings. Brown moved California up to 41st place when he concluded his term in office. Newsom has taken the once Golden State to 43rd place in 2022 and 44th place in 2023. He signed AB 218, thus assuring that other public agencies, like school districts and counties would suffer a similar fate.
Gonzalez-Fletcher would leave her office in 2022 to serve as the president of the California Labor Federation. Her job is to obtain “more” raises and benefits for California’s public employees and teachers. But she implemented a budget buster that will make this mandate next to impossible. Most of California’s numerous public employee unions will not see salary increases in the foreseeable future. Such is the price of a self-inflicted wound.
The Los Angeles Unified School District recently announced it will be issuing $500 million in bonds to pay for these newly generated lawsuit settlements. The County of Los Angeles will be issuing $4 billion in bonds for the same reason. Both are near the bottom in their fiscal rankings. They will be financially strapped for decades as a result.
Who knows what to expect from other municipalities in the coming months and years as they litigate new claims? Contact any California school district to see if and when it is going to court or simply choosing to settle. And then ask how they plan on paying these costs.
Gonzalez-Fletcher and Newsom will be remembered, just like Orange County’s former Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. “Bob” Citron, for thrusting a careless fiscal catastrophe, this time through lawsuit settlements and higher insurance rates, on taxpayers.
John Moorlach is a senior fellow and director of the Center for Public Accountability at California Policy Center. He previously served in the California State Senate and on the Orange County Board of Supervisors.