BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2023|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2023
Author: Houston (R)
Amended: 8/4/08 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC EMP. & RET. COMMITTEE : 4-0, 6/23/08
AYES: Wiggins, Ashburn, Migden, Negrete McLeod
NO VOTE RECORDED: McClintock
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 5/1/08 (Consent) See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : Public employee disability benefits
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires the California Public
Employees' Retirement System, the State Teachers Retirement
System and the twenty counties participating in the County
Employees Retirement Act of 1937, when determining
eligibility for a disability retirement benefit, to only
consider competent medical documentation and prohibits
personnel, disciplinary, or other non-medical issues from
being considered.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/4/08 make a technical change
in the wording of this bill to allow the provisions to
function correctly in the PERS, STRS and '37.
Senate Floor Amendments of 7/7/08 is a one-word, technical
CONTINUED
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correction required to make the provision of this bill
function properly.
ANALYSIS :
Existing Law
The Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) provides for
the granting of disability benefits to members in state
service.
Existing law provides that if a medical examination and
other available information show to the satisfaction of the
Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement
System that a member in state service is incapacitated
physically or mentally for the performance of his/her
duties and is eligible to retire for disability, the board
shall immediately retire him/her for disability.
The State Teachers' Retirement System (STRS) permits the
board of administration of the system to authorize payment
of a disability allowance or disability retirement
allowance, requires a member to provide medical
documentation to substantiate the claim qualifying the
member for the disability allowance or disability
retirement allowance, and permits the board to order a
medical examination in this regard, as specified.
The County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 ('37 Act)
permits a member permanently incapacitated for duty to
retire for disability only if specified criteria are met.
Existing law permits the legislative body of a local agency
to establish a pension trust, as specified, for the benefit
of its officers and employees and permits that legislative
body to establish reciprocal retirement benefits with other
specified retirement systems.
This bill requires PERS, STRS and '37 Act counties, when
determining eligibility for a disability retirement
benefit, to only consider competent medical documentation
and prohibits personnel, disciplinary, or other non-medical
issues from being considered.
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3
Comments
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger established the Public
Employee Post-Employment Benefits Commission (Commission)
in December 2006 to "identify the extent of unfunded
liabilities" in public sector pension and retiree health
care obligations, review and analyze options for addressing
them and recommend a plan to the Legislature and Governor.
The 12-member Commission, chaired by former UC Board of
Regents President Gerald Parsky, released its 212-page
report on January 7, 2008. The report contained a
comprehensive, eight-point plan containing 34 specific
recommendations.
Recommendation 27 states:
"The granting of a disability retirement should be
based solely on medical information and should not
consider personnel, disciplinary, or other ancillary
issues."
The following rationale for the recommendation is included
in the Commission report:
"Within the '37 Act, each county retirement board
rules on the disability applications within its own
system. In addition, the Board of the State Teachers'
Retirement System decides on disability applications
in that retirement system. The CalPERS Board makes
disability determinations for all state, school, and
public agency members, except for local safety
members, and also makes determinations as to whether
disabilities are the result of a job-related injury or
illness. Local public agencies within CalPERS have
the responsibility for making disability
determinations for their own local safety members, as
well as for deciding whether the disability is the
result of a job-related injury or illness.
"Consequently there can be, and has been, significant
differences in standards between employers as to what
constitutes a 'disability,' with some local agencies at
times using disability retirement as a substitute for
the disciplinary process. CalPERS reports that the
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awareness among local agencies of this disparity causes
ongoing concern for some agencies over the equity of
pooling disability experience as part of the rate
setting process for employers participating in risk
pools. This recommendation is made in order to protect
the credibility of the disability claims process."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/31/08)
PERS Board of Administration
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Aghazarian, Anderson, Arambula, Bass, Beall,
Benoit, Berg, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Brownley, Caballero,
Charles Calderon, Carter, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre,
De Leon, DeSaulnier, DeVore, Duvall, Dymally, Emmerson,
Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines,
Galgiani, Garcia, Garrick, Hancock, Hayashi, Hernandez,
Horton, Houston, Huff, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones,
Karnette, Keene, La Malfa, Laird, Leno, Lieber, Lieu, Ma,
Maze, Mendoza, Mullin, Nakanishi, Nava, Niello, Parra,
Plescia, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana,
Silva, Smyth, Solorio, Spitzer, Strickland, Swanson,
Torrico, Tran, Villines, Walters, Wolk, Nunez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Krekorian, Levine, Sharon Runner, Soto
JJA:do 8/4/08 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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