Bill Text: CA ACA3 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Public employees' retirement.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - From committee without further action. [ACA3 Detail]

Download: California-2015-ACA3-Introduced.html
BILL NUMBER: ACA 3	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Gallagher

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2015

   A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California
an amendment to the Constitution of the State, by amending and adding
subdivision (h) of Section 17 of Article XVI thereof, relating to
public employees' retirement.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   ACA 3, as introduced, Gallagher. Public employees' retirement.
   Existing statutory law establishes various public agency
retirement systems, including the Public Employees' Retirement
System, the State Teachers' Retirement System, the Judges' Retirement
System II, and various county retirement systems pursuant to the
County Employees Retirement Law of 1937, among others, and these
systems provide defined pension benefits to public employees based on
age, service credit, and amount of final compensation. The
California Constitution permits a city or county to adopt a charter
for purposes of its governance that supersedes general laws of the
state in regard to specified subjects, including compensation of city
or county employees. The California Constitution establishes the
University of California as a public trust with full powers of
organization and government, subject only to specified limitations.
Under their respective independent constitutional authority, charter
cities and counties and the University of California may establish
retirement systems. The California Public Employees Pension Reform
Act of 2013 (PEPRA) generally requires the retirement systems to
which it applies to modify their provisions to conform with its
requirements. PEPRA excepts from its provisions retirement systems
established by charter cities and counties and the University of
California. PEPRA requires that any enhancement to a public employee'
s retirement formula or retirement benefit adopted on or after
January 1, 2013, apply only to service performed on or after the
operative date of the enhancement and prohibits its application to
service performed prior to that date.
   This measure would require, with respect to any public retirement
systems, that any enhancement to a public employee's retirement
formula or retirement benefit, adopted on or after the measure's
effective date, apply only to service performed on and after the
operative date of the enhancement and shall not be applied to any
service performed prior to the operative date of the change. The
measure would specify how changes in membership classification or
changes in employment are to be applied in this context. The measure
would provide that specified cost-of-living adjustments are not
enhancements of retirement benefits.
   Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.



   Resolved by the Assembly, the Senate concurring, That the
Legislature of the State of California at its 2015-16 Regular Session
commencing on the first day of December, two-thirds of the
membership of each house concurring, hereby proposes to the people of
the State of California, that the Constitution of the State be
amended as follows:
  First--  That subdivision (h) of Section 17 of Article XVI thereof
is amended to read:
      Sec. 17.   (h)     (i)
   As used in this section, the term "retirement
 board"   board   '  shall mean
the board of administration, board of trustees, board of directors,
or other governing body or board of a public employees' pension or
retirement system; provided, however, that the term "retirement
 board"   board   '  shall not be
interpreted to mean or include a governing body or board created
after July 1, 1991 which does not administer pension or retirement
benefits, or the elected legislative body of a jurisdiction which
employs participants in a public employees' pension or retirement
system.
  Second--  That subdivision (h) is added to Section 17 of Article
XVI thereof, to read:
      Sec. 17.  (h) (1) Any enhancement to a public employee's
retirement formula or retirement benefit, adopted on or after the
effective date of this subdivision, shall apply only to service
performed on and after the operative date of the enhancement and
shall not be applied to any service performed prior to the operative
date of the enhancement.
   (2) If a change to a member's retirement membership classification
or a change in employment results in an enhancement in the
retirement formula or retirement benefit applicable to that member,
that enhancement shall apply only to service performed on or after
the operative date of the change and shall not be applied to any
service performed prior to the operative date of the change.
   (3) For purposes of this subdivision "operative date" in a
collective bargaining agreement means one of the following:
   (A) The date that the agreement is signed by the parties.
   (B) A date agreed to by the parties that will occur after the date
that the agreement is signed by the parties.
   (C) A date designated by the parties that occurred prior to the
date the agreement was signed if the most recent collective
bargaining contract was expired at the time of the agreement and the
date designated is not earlier than 12 months prior to the date of
the agreement or the day after the last day of the expired bargaining
contract, whichever occurred later.
   (4) For purposes of this section, an increase to a retiree's
annual cost-of-living adjustment within existing statutory limits
shall not be considered to be an enhancement to a retirement benefit.
                                      
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