Walsh

Once again we consider claims that changes in the Legislators’ Retirement Law were improper and impaired the vested rights of a former legislator. Lawrence E. Walsh, a former member of the California State Legislature, appeals from a judgment of the Superior Court of Sacramento County denying his petition for a writ of mandate. By his petition Walsh sought to compel the defendant Board of Administration of the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS Board) to award him retirement benefits from the time he left legislative service in 1974 to the time he began drawing retirement benefits at age 60 in 1986, and to recalculate his current allowance based upon the cost of living increases that would have accrued during those years. Walsh’s contentions are presented in a somewhat disjointed fashion. Nevertheless, we have carefully considered each of the arguments which we perceive him to be asserting in support of his claim and find none of them persuasive. Accordingly, we shall affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Background

The decade colloquially known as the ’60’s was an extremely significant, and turbulent, period for our state Legislature. In order to address the…