BILL NUMBER: SB 202	CHAPTERED  10/13/01

	CHAPTER  798
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  OCTOBER 13, 2001
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  OCTOBER 12, 2001
	PASSED THE SENATE  SEPTEMBER 14, 2001
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 13, 2001
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 5, 2001

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Soto

                        FEBRUARY 8, 2001

   An act to repeal and add Section 22825.5 to the Government Code,
relating to public employee postretirement health benefits.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 202, Soto.  Public employee postretirement health benefits:
employer contributions.
   The Public Employees' Medical and Hospital Care Act  requires
contracting agencies, as defined, to pay employer contributions for
postretirement health benefits for employees who retire for service
and who are first employed after the date of the contract amendment
or January 1, 1999, subject to specified conditions.  In those
circumstances, for employees with 20 or more years of credited
service, the contracting agency is required to pay 100% of the
required health premium.
   This bill would recast those provisions and, upon approval by the
governing body of a contracting agency, would authorize the
contracting agency to give employees hired prior to the contract
amendment the right to elect to be subject to those provisions, and
would require the contracting agency also to pay 100% of the required
health premium for annuitants who retired for disability and
annuitants who retired with 20 or more years of service credit with
the contracting agency and who meet specified criteria.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 22825.5 of the Government Code is repealed.
  SEC. 2.  Section 22825.5 is added to the Government Code, to read:

   22825.5.  (a) Notwithstanding Section 22825, the percentage of
employer contribution payable for postretirement health benefits for
any employee of a contracting agency subject to this section shall,
except as provided in subdivision (b), be based on the member's
completed years of credited state service at retirement as shown in
the following table:


                                                 Percentage
     Credited Years                             of Employer
       of Service                               Contribution
         10 ................................        50
         11 ................................        55
         12 ................................        60
         13 ................................        65
         14 ................................        70
         15 ................................        75
         16 ................................        80
         17 ................................        85
         18 ................................        90
         19 ................................        95
         20 or more ........................       100
This subdivision shall apply only to employees who retire for
service and, except as provided in paragraph (6), who are first
employed after this section becomes applicable to their employer.
The application of this subdivision to those employees shall be
subject to the following provisions:
   (1) The employer's contribution with respect to each annuitant
shall be adjusted by the employer each year.  Those adjustments shall
be based upon the principle that the employer's contribution for
each annuitant shall not be more than 100 percent of the premium
applicable to him or her, nor less than an amount equal to 100
percent of the weighted average of the health benefits plan premiums
for employees or annuitants enrolled for self alone plus 90 percent
of the weighted average of the additional premiums required for
enrollment of family members in the four health benefits plans that
have the largest number of enrollments during the fiscal year to
which the formula applied.
   (2) The employer shall have, in the case of employees represented
by a bargaining unit, reached an agreement with that bargaining unit
to be subject to this section.
   (3) The employer shall certify to the board, in the case of
employees not represented by a bargaining unit, that there is not an
applicable memorandum of understanding.
   (4) The credited service of any employee for the purposes of
determining the percentage of employer contributions applicable under
this section shall mean state service as defined in Section 20069,
except that not less than five years of that service shall be
performed entirely with that employer.
   (5) The employer shall provide the board any information requested
that the board determines is necessary to implement this section.
   (6) The employer may, once each year without discrimination, allow
all employees who were first employed before this section became
applicable to the employer to individually elect to be subject to the
provisions of this section and the employer shall notify the board
which employees have made that election.
   (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the contribution payable by
an employer subject to this section shall be equal to 100 percent of
the amount established pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a)
on behalf of any annuitant who either:
   (1) Retired for disability.
   (2) Retired for service with 20 or more years of service credit
entirely with that employer, regardless of the number of days after
separation from employment.  The contribution payable by an employer
under this paragraph shall be paid only if it is greater than, and
made in lieu of, any contribution payable to the annuitant by any
other employer under this part.
   The board shall establish application procedures and eligibility
criteria under this subdivision.
   (c) This section shall not apply to any contracting agency nor to
its employees and annuitants unless and until the agency files with
the board a resolution of its governing body electing to be so
subject.  The resolution shall be adopted by a majority vote of the
governing body and shall be effective at the time provided in the
board's regulations.