BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2664
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Date of Hearing: May 2, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC EMPLOYEES, RETIREMENT AND SOCIAL
SECURITY
Warren T. Furutani, Chair
AB 2664 (P.E.,R. & S.S. Committee) - As Amended: April 24,
2012
SUBJECT : County employees retirement: electronic signatures.
SUMMARY : Makes various noncontroversial changes to the laws
governing retirement systems established pursuant to the County
Employees' Retirement Law of 1937 ('37 Act). Specifically, this
bill :
1)Allows the retirement boards of '37 Act retirement systems to
adopt regulations allowing for the use and acceptance of a
member's electronic signature with the same force and effect
as a signed, valid original document.
2)Authorizes the Los Angeles County Employees' Retirement
Association (LACERA) to adjust retirement payments due to
errors or omissions in the same manner as the California
Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS).
3)Establishes the County Retirement System Dental Care Program
(Program) to provide dental care benefits to county and
district retirees, their survivors, and eligible dependents of
'37 Act retirement systems that elect to offer the Program. A
retiree is responsible for the full cost of the dental care
premium and counties electing to participate in the Program
may contract with a third party administrator to provide the
dental care.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that in any transaction in which a public entity is a
party, and a signature is required, any party may affix a
digital signature that complies with certain requirements;
defines digital signatures; and, requires that the digital
signature conforms with regulations of the Secretary of State.
2)Authorizes, pursuant to AB 232 (Fletcher and Hill), Chapter
90, Statutes of 2009, the California State Teachers'
Retirement System (CalSTRS) to develop and implement a process
AB 2664
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for accepting electronic signatures from members, while
maintaining the same level of security as required by existing
CalSTRS law.
3)Establishes the manner in which CalPERS may adjust retirement
payments due to errors or omissions.
4)Establishes, pursuant to AB 1288 (Hayashi), Chapter 331,
Statutes of 2007, the County Retirement System Vision Care
Program to provide vision care benefits to '37 Act retirees,
their survivors, and eligible dependents.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS :
1)According to the sponsor, "A county retirement system may
accept a member's digital signature with the same force and
effect as a manual signature but only if it meets the
requirements of Section 16.5 of the Government Code and
regulations adopted by the Secretary of State. Compliance
with 16.5 and regulations adopted thereunder is so costly and
burdensome as to render it impractical for use by county
retirement systems and their members. LACERA significantly
limits the use of electronic signatures as a result."
2)According to LACERA, while existing law authorizes '37 Act
boards of retirement to reduce the monthly retirement benefits
of members who fraudulently report compensation or overstate
earnings which result in improper increases in their county
pensions, the '37 Act does not contain a statutory framework,
similar to that contained in the Public Employees' Retirement
Law (PERL), to correct errors and omissions. They therefore
recommend, that specific sections be added to the '37 Act to
mirror that of PERL in order to provide LACERA with the
authority and consistent statutory limitations in which to
correct these errors and omissions.
3)There are 20 '37 Act counties, some of which provide dental
plans for their retirees. Based upon surveys of counties not
offering dental coverage for retirees, the State Association
of Counties (SACRS) estimates that this bill would extend
dental coverage to 18,000 retirees and spouses.
AB 2664
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Currently, individuals without sufficient health care coverage
must reassign their limited retirement dollars from other
activities to cover the increasing costs of health care.
That logic leads to individuals making decisions to drop
personal vision and dental care programs to cover general
health care costs.
For county retirees, the legislature addressed this issue for
vision care with AB 1288 which allowed the '37 Act counties to
pool its eligible retirees to create a low cost retiree vision
care plan. The success of the vision care plan has led to
retirees requesting a similar plan for dental benefits.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Los Angeles County Employees' Retirement Association (Sponsor)
State Association of County Retirement Systems (Sponsor)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Karon Green / P.E., R. & S.S. / (916)
319-3957