BILL NUMBER: AB 1255 CHAPTERED 07/17/07 CHAPTER 86 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE JULY 17, 2007 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR JULY 17, 2007 PASSED THE SENATE JULY 2, 2007 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY MAY 14, 2007 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 10, 2007 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 18, 2007 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Parra (Coauthors: Assembly Members Arambula and Villines) (Coauthor: Senator Cogdill) FEBRUARY 23, 2007 An act to amend Sections 31485.9 and 31676.15 of the Government Code, relating to county employees' retirement, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1255, Parra. County employees' retirement: pension benefits: Fresno County. The County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 provides various formulas for the calculation of retirement benefits that counties subject to that law may adopt by resolution. That law provides a particular formula for the calculation of retirement benefits that a county may adopt if the county has implemented certain alternative provisions for survivorship benefits under social security, as specified, and a majority of the members of the affected class or classes vote in favor of the termination of retirement benefits under social security, as specified. That law authorizes counties and districts to adopt specified retirement benefits for general members of the retirement system and prohibits the adoption, by resolution, ordinance, contract, or contract amendment, of retirement benefits for some, but not all, general members. This bill would permit the board of supervisors of Fresno County to adopt the provisions described above, to apply only to members first hired by the county on and after the date these provisions become operative in the county and to those members represented by Service Employees International Union Local 521 whose retirement benefits were established pursuant to a specified provision of that law, without regard to the requirement of implementing alternative survivorship benefits or the requirement of terminating benefits under social security. The bill would also make conforming, technical changes to these provisions. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 31485.9 of the Government Code is amended to read: 31485.9. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including, but not limited to, Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 3500) of Division 4 of Title 1, no resolution, ordinance, contract, or contract amendment under this chapter adopted on or after January 1, 2004, may provide any retirement benefits for some, but not all, general members of a county or district. (b) No resolution, ordinance, contract, or contract amendment under this chapter adopted on or after January 1, 2004, may provide different retirement benefits for any subgroup of general members within a membership classification, including, but not limited to, bargaining units or unrepresented groups, unless benefits provided by statute for members hired on or after the date specified in the resolution are adopted by the county or district governing board, by resolution adopted by majority vote, pursuant to a memorandum of understanding made under the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 3500) of Division 4 of Title 2). All nonrepresented employees within similar job classifications as employees in a bargaining unit subject to a memorandum of understanding, or supervisors and managers thereof, shall be subject to the same formula for the calculation of retirement benefits applicable to the employees in the bargaining unit. No retirement contract amendment may be imposed by the employer in absence of a memorandum of understanding under the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act. (c) This section does not preclude changing membership classification from one membership classification to another membership classification. (d) This section shall not apply to retirement benefits for a member described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (d) of Section 31676.15. SEC. 2. Section 31676.15 of the Government Code is amended to read: 31676.15. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (d), this section may be made applicable in any county which has implemented the provisions of Article 15.6 (commencing with Section 31855). This section shall be applicable if a majority of all the members of the board of supervisors vote to adopt a resolution so to do and a majority of the members of the affected class or classes voting at an election held during 1974, with more than 50 percent of the members participating, favor the termination of retirement benefits under social security. The resolution may specify a date subsequent to the date of adoption of the resolution as the operative date for this section. (b) (1) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, the current service pension or the current service pension combined with the prior service pension is an additional pension for members purchased by the contributions of the county or district sufficient, when added to the service retirement annuity, to equal the fraction of one-fiftieth of the member's final compensation set forth opposite the age at retirement, taken to the preceding completed quarter year, in the following table multiplied by the number of years of current service or years of current and prior service with which the member is entitled to be credited at retirement, but in no event shall the total retirement allowance exceed the member's final compensation. Age at Retirement Fraction 50....................................... .7454 50 1/4................................... .7561 50 1/2................................... .7668 50 3/4................................... .7775 51....................................... .7882 51 1/4................................... .7998 51 1/2................................... .8114 51 3/4................................... .8230 52....................................... .8346 52 1/4................................... .8472 52 1/2................................... .8598 52 3/4................................... .8724 53....................................... .8850 53 1/4................................... .8987 53 1/2................................... .9125 53 3/4................................... .9262 54....................................... .9399 54 1/4................................... .9549 54 1/2................................... .9699 54 3/4................................... .9849 55....................................... 1.0000 55 1/4................................... 1.0111 55 1/2................................... 1.0223 55 3/4................................... 1.0335 56....................................... 1.0447 56 1/4................................... 1.0597 56 1/2................................... 1.0747 56 3/4................................... 1.0898 57....................................... 1.1048 57 1/4................................... 1.1207 57 1/2................................... 1.1367 57 3/4................................... 1.1526 58....................................... 1.1686 58 1/4................................... 1.1855 58 1/2................................... 1.2025 58 3/4................................... 1.2195 59....................................... 1.2365 59 1/4................................... 1.2547 59 1/2................................... 1.2729 59 3/4................................... 1.2911 60....................................... 1.3093 60 1/4................................... 1.3221 60 1/2................................... 1.3350 60 3/4................................... 1.3479 61....................................... 1.3608 61 1/4................................... 1.3736 61 1/2................................... 1.3865 61 3/4................................... 1.3994 62....................................... 1.4123 62 1/4................................... 1.4251 62 1/2................................... 1.4380 62 3/4................................... 1.4509 63....................................... 1.4638 63 1/4................................... 1.4766 63 1/2................................... 1.4895 63 3/4................................... 1.5024 64....................................... 1.5153 64 1/4................................... 1.5281 64 1/2................................... 1.5410 64 3/4................................... 1.5539 65....................................... 1.5668 (2) In any county operating under this section any limitation in any provisions of this chapter upon the amount of compensation used for computing rates of contributions shall be disregarded. (c) Whenever in this chapter reference is made to survivorship and other benefits and rights under Section 31676.1, the same shall apply to this section. (d) Notwithstanding the requirements of subdivision (a), the provisions of this section shall be applicable in a county of the 12th Class, as described in Sections 28020 and 28033, after the board of supervisors of the county adopts a resolution to do so. The provisions adopted pursuant to this subdivision may be made applicable without regard to the requirement of implementing Article 15.6 (commencing with Section 31855) or the requirement of terminating benefits under social security. The provisions adopted pursuant to this subdivision shall apply only to either of the following: (1) Members first hired by the county on and after the date this section becomes operative in the county. (2) Members represented by Service Employees International Union Local 521 whose retirement benefits were established pursuant to Section 31676.16 prior to the date this section becomes operative in the county. SEC. 3. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are: In order that negotiated changes in retirement benefits for newly hired employees be fully implemented by the beginning of the 2007-08 fiscal year, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.