In 1999, California's state Senate voted 35-0 and the Assembly 70-7 for Senate Bill 400, which drastically changed pension rules, granting retroactive pension increases of 50% in the formula for state public safety officers and allowing state workers to retire with their full maximum pensions at age 55 without addressing the long-term cost to taxpayers. This generous decision led many local governments to provide more costly benefits. The Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2012, which largely applied to new hires, increased retirement ages, and safeguards against late-career pension spiking, has been weakened by a new version of the reforms. The 2026 version of this reform weakens the reforms, which would weaken the requirement that public employees must pay at least 50% of the "normal cost" of their pension benefits.