Elected Officials Who Break Laws Could Lose Pensions

Sacramento, CA — Elected officials convicted of bribery, embezzlement or certain other crimes could lose their government pensions under legislation that´s headed for the governor´s desk.

The measure by Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian of Stockton was given final approval today by the Assembly, which voted 70 to nothing to accept Senate amendments to the bill.

Current law allows pension benefits to be suspended when an elected official who is facing corruption charges flees, but the law is silent on what happens when there is a conviction.

Under the Aghazarian bill, an official who was elected, re-elected or appointed to fill out an unexpired term after January 1st, 2006 could lose pension benefits if convicted of bribery, extortion, embezzlement, perjury or conspiracy to commit those crimes.