In what is surely this legislative session’s biggest surprise, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill 1383, which would have substantially weakened a modest pension reform bill backed by former Gov. Jerry Brown in 2012. The veto was especially unexpected given that AB 1383 cleared both houses of the legislature by nearly unanimous votes. In 2012, California’s pension debt exceeded $200 billion, requiring the state and local governments to make up the difference out of their annual budgets. Voters then became aware of the phrase “crowd out,” meaning that the annual allocation from the state and local governments that was required...