Brown’s pension plan calls for a fundamental restructuring of pension formulas that would require state workers to contribute more money and retire later.

Citing recent negotiations undertaken by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in which a number of unions upped their pension contributions to 10 percent, Brown said he would negotiate similar deals with other state employees.

Brown also supports efforts to curb pension spiking and suggested an unspecified cap on large retirement payouts. He would do away with so-called pension holidays, a perk that allows workers to forgo pension payments for set periods of time, typically during times of strong investment returns.

Responding to highly publicized pension fund scandals in California and elsewhere, Brown has also called for restrictions on so-called placement agents, which act as middlemen between pension funds and institutional investors.

Philosophically, Brown’s and Whitman’s pension positions are not far apart. Brown has stopped short of calling for a complete overhaul of the system, arguing that it has worked well for decades and can be “mended.” Some have suggested that Brown’s clout with unions might make him a more successful negotiator.

Although he said they are not an ideal solution, Brown would not rule out the use of furloughs to temporarily cover gaps in state cash flow. He also spoke out against Schwarzenegger’s threats last summer to reduce state workers’ pay to minimum wage.

One of Whitman’s most highly publicized and controversial policy proposals has been her suggestion to slash 40,000 workers from the state payroll – an idea she has expressed with differing levels of zeal throughout the campaign.

More often than not, she has talked about reducing the workforce through attrition. However, last year, she told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that she would advocate laying off 30,000 to 40,000 state workers.

“Well, I know, from my experience, that almost any organization, you can lay off 10 percent of the bureaucracy, and actually -- maybe it's easier, actually, with fewer people, and it will not be a hardship on the state. And, so, that would say that you want to lay off between 30,000 and 40,000 people.”

When asked by Los Angeles radio hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou whether she was “still going to lay off 40,000 state workers,” Whitman responded “Yes.”

In an interview with KNBC in Los Angeles in April, she said she would not consider rolling back collective bargaining rights for state workers. But she seemed more likely to consider the idea in a September interview with the Sacramento Bee editorial board, saying she would not take the option off the table.

Like Brown, she supports negotiating increased pension contributions from state workers and has suggested increasing the retirement age to 65. If negotiations with unions fail, she has proposed forcing pension reforms through a ballot measure.

Whitman has also proposed phasing out the current pension system for new state workers and replacing it with a defined contribution plan such as a 401(k). She has said public safety agencies would be exempted from many of her suggested reforms.

Among her more novel proposals, Whitman has said she would mandate that all state constitutional officers fly commercial, rather than taking private planes.