Bill Text: CA AB868 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Public Employees' Retirement System: contracting agencies: transfer of membership.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2015-07-14 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 86, Statutes of 2015. [AB868 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB868-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 868 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 86
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE JULY 14, 2015
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR JULY 14, 2015
PASSED THE SENATE JUNE 25, 2015
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY MAY 7, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Obernolte
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
An act to amend Sections 20588 and 31657 of the Government Code,
relating to public employees' retirement.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 868, Obernolte. Public Employees' Retirement System:
contracting agencies: transfer of membership.
Existing law authorizes public agencies to contract with the Board
of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System to have
their employees become members of the Public Employees' Retirement
System (PERS). Existing law, with respect to the Counties of Kern,
Los Angeles, and Orange, permits the board to enter into an agreement
with the contracting agency's board of retirement for termination of
the contracting agency's participation in PERS and inclusion of the
agency's employees in the retirement system of the city or county, if
specified requirements are met, with respect to certain safety
members, including firefighters. The County Employees Retirement Law
of 1937 establishes a corresponding authority for accepting these
people as members for retirement systems created pursuant to its
provisions, and granting them service credit for their service
credited by PERS.
This bill would expand the application of the provisions described
above to the County of San Bernardino.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 20588 of the Government Code is amended to
read:
20588. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article,
the board may, pursuant to this section and Section 31657, enter into
an agreement with the board of retirement of a county maintaining a
county retirement system, for termination of participation of a
public agency whose contract has been in effect for at least five
years in this system or the state with respect to certain safety
members who have ceased to be employed by the public agency or the
state and have been employed by a county, fire authority, or district
as a result of a transfer of firefighting or law enforcement
functions from the public agency or the state to the county, fire
authority, or district and inclusion of the former public agency
employees in that county retirement system.
(b) The agreement shall contain provisions the board finds
necessary to protect the interests of this system, including
provisions for determination of the amount, time, and manner of
transfer of cash or securities, or both, to be transferred to the
county system representing the actuarial value of the interests in
the retirement fund of the public agency or the state and the
transferred employees by reason of accumulated contributions credited
to that public agency or the state and the employees transferred.
The agreement may also contain any other provisions that the board
deems necessary to address issues related to the transfer, including,
but not limited to, benefits subject to an outstanding domestic
relations order and benefits subject to a lien. The agreement shall
apply only to employees who are employed by the county or district on
the effective date of the agreement.
(c) All liability of this system with respect to the members
transferred under that agreement shall cease and shall become the
liability of the county retirement system as of the date of transfer
specified in the agreement. Liability of the county retirement system
shall be for payment of benefits to transferred employees in
accordance with Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 31450) of Part 3
of Division 4 of Title 3.
(d) Any member transferred who becomes a member of a county
retirement system upon that transfer date shall be subject to
provisions of this part and of Chapter 3 (commencing with Section
31450) of Part 3 of Division 4 of Title 3 extending rights to a
member or subjecting him or her to limitations because of membership
in another retirement system to the same extent that he or she would
have been had he or she been a member of the county retirement system
during his or her membership in this system.
(e) This section shall apply only in the Counties of Kern, Los
Angeles, Orange, and San Bernardino.
SEC. 2. Section 31657 of the Government Code is amended to read:
31657. Subject to Section 20588, whenever, as a result of the
assumption by a county, fire authority, or district of firefighting
or law enforcement functions performed by a public agency or the
state subject to the Public Employees' Retirement Law, any person
ceases to be employed by a public agency or the state and is employed
by a county, fire authority, or district in which this chapter has
become operative, that person shall become a member of the retirement
system of a county immediately upon entering county service. That
member of the county retirement system shall be entitled to service
credit in the county retirement system for the service for which he
or she was entitled to credit in the Public Employees' Retirement
System at the time of cessation of employment by the public agency or
the state, without necessity of payment of any additional
contributions in respect to that service, when and if all of the
following occur:
(a) The board of retirement receives certification from the Board
of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System of the
service with which the person was entitled to be credited by the
Public Employees' Retirement System at the time of cessation of his
or her public agency or state employment.
(b) There is paid into the county retirement fund of the county,
an amount equal to the normal contributions of the person to the
Public Employees' Retirement System, together with all interest
credited thereto, which amount shall be credited to the individual
account of the member in the county retirement system, and shall
thereafter for all purposes be deemed to be the member's contribution
to the county retirement system with respect to the service so
certified.
(c) There is paid to the retirement system of the county an amount
equal to all contributions of the public agency or the state made to
the Public Employees' Retirement System on account of service
rendered by the person together with interest credited to the public
agency or the state thereto.
(d) The board of retirement elects to apply this section as a
prudent means of mitigating against potential adverse financial
impact upon the county retirement system from the cost of disability
retirements that may be applied for in the future by persons injured
while being employed by the county, fire authority, or district after
ceasing to be employed by a public agency or the state as a result
of the assumption by a county, fire authority, or district of
firefighting or law enforcement functions.
This section shall apply in a county of the first, the second, the
seventh, or the fourteenth class, as defined by Section 28020, as
amended by Chapter 1204 of the Statutes of 1971, and Section 28022,
as amended by Chapter 43 of the Statutes of 1961, and Sections 28023,
28028, and 28035, as amended by Chapter 1204 of the Statutes of
1971.
