Kevin de Leόn Lauded For Pension Reform Legislation

Senator Kevin de Leόn (D-Los Angeles) has been named among the 40 most important people in the nation working for pension reform.

The state senator, who represents the 22nd district of the California Senate, which includes Highland Park, Echo Park and Eagle Rock, was ranked 16th in a list of 40 top national players in pension reform by Institutional Investor, a global financial magazine, on Tuesday.

Titled The 2013 Pension 40 -- Meet the 40 most influential people in the battle to decide the future of U. S. pensions, the publication’s inaugural list of pension reform leaders praises de Leόn for spearheading “landmark pension reform legislation.”

The senator, says the magazine, “burst onto the stage of the U.S. pension debate with the September 2012 passage of his Bill 1234 by the California State Senate.”

The magazine quotes de Leόn as saying that the bill formulated a pension plan that would modestly supplement Social Security for previously uncovered private sector employees and “stem the retirement insecurity tsunami.”

“Raised in a San Diego barrio by an immigrant single mother who worked as a housekeeper and received no benefits, de Leόn was determined to find a retirement solution for California’s 8 million private workers in similar straits,” says the article.

Click here to read the write-up about the senator.