Mijares

*731 *320 In this declaratory relief action, the trial court ruled the Orange County Department of Education (Employer) must pay approximately $ 3.3 million in additional contributions to fund pension benefits promised to its employees. Employer argues we must independently review the legal issues raised in its complaint because the judgment arises from an order granting a motion for judgment on the pleadings. Applying this standard, we nevertheless reach the same conclusion as the trial court. The requested payment from Employer, which related to an unfunded liability of its employees' pension benefits, was permissible and did not violate the California constitution.

*321 FACTS

We begin by noting the parties' briefing in this appeal utilized an excessive amount of acronyms. For the sake of clarity, and to avoid our opinion looking like alphabet soup, we have not adopted the parties' acronyms and when appropriate selected descriptive abbreviations when referring to the parties, legal authority, and policies.

Approximately 40 years ago, Orange County employed all education-related employees, i.e., teachers and principals. These employees were all members of the Orange County…