BILL NUMBER: SB 987 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 11, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 29, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 26, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Senator Negrete McLeod
JANUARY 31, 2012
An act to amend Sections 20235, 21002, 21004,
22772, and 75502 of, and to add Sections 9351.4, 20065.5, and
75004.5 to, the Government Code, relating to public employees'
retirement.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 987, as amended, Negrete McLeod. Public employees' retirement.
(1) The Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL) creates the Public
Employees' Retirement System (PERS), which provides a defined
benefit to its members based on age at retirement, service credit,
and final compensation. Existing law also establishes the Judges'
Retirement System and the Judges' Retirement System II which provide
pension benefits to elected judges and the Legislators' Retirement
System which provides pension benefits to elective officers of the
state other than judges and to legislative statutory officers.
This bill would provide that all references to "spouse,"
"surviving spouse," or "marriage" in these provisions apply equally
to a domestic partner or domestic partnership, as defined, and all
rights and responsibilities granted to a spouse or surviving spouse
shall be granted equally to a domestic partner, as specified.
(2) PERL defines "leave of absence" to include absence from state
service because of illness that arose out of and in the course of
employment and for which the member received temporary disability
benefits during the absence and did not receive full compensation, as
specified. PERL authorizes a member who returns to active service
following an employer-approved uncompensated leave of absence because
of his or her serious illness to purchase service credit for that
period of absence, as specified.
This bill would clarify that definition to include absence from
state service because of illness or injury that arose out of and in
the course of employment, and would authorize the purchase of service
credit following an employer-approved uncompensated leave of absence
because of the member's serious illness or injury.
(3) Existing law requires the Board of Administration of PERS to
submit a quarterly review of the system's assets, as specified, to
the Legislature. This review must include information on the
time-weighted and dollar-weighted return on a 5-year, 3-year, 2-year,
and 1-year basis.
This bill would eliminate the requirement that the quarterly
review described above include information on the time-weighted and
dollar-weighted return on a 2-year basis.
(4) Existing law defines an employee for purposes of the Public
Employees' Medical and Hospital Care Act, which governs health care
coverage available to public employees. This definition includes an
employee who is employed by a contracting agency, including an
officer or official of a contracting agency, as defined, if that
officer or official participates in the employer's retirement system.
This bill would revise that definition to include only those
employees who are employed by a contracting agency and participate in
a publicly funded retirement system provided by that agency, as well
as officers or officials of a contracting agency. The bill would
also revise that definition by including officers or officials of a
contracting agency regardless of whether those officers or officials
participate in the employer's retirement system.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 9351.4 is added to the Government Code, to
read:
9351.4. All references to "spouse," "surviving spouse," or
"marriage" in this chapter apply equally to a domestic partner or
domestic partnership, as defined in Section 297 of the Family Code,
and all rights and responsibilities granted to a spouse or surviving
spouse shall be granted equally to a domestic partner to the extent
provided by Section 297.5 of the Family Code.
SEC. 2. Section 20065.5 is added to the Government Code, to read:
20065.5. All references to "spouse," "surviving spouse," or
"marriage" in this part apply equally to a domestic partner or
domestic partnership, as defined in Section 297 of the Family Code,
and all rights and responsibilities granted to a spouse or surviving
spouse shall be granted equally to a domestic partner to the extent
provided by Section 297.5 of the Family Code.
SEC. 3. Section 20235 of the Government
Code is amended to read:
20235. (a) The board shall submit a review of this system's
assets to the Legislature on a quarterly basis. The report shall also
be made available to all contracting agencies. The report shall do
both of the following:
(1) Discuss this system's portfolio and contain the following
information:
(A) Concentration, current holdings at cost and market value, of
equities.
(B) Concentration, current holdings at cost and market value, of
fixed income instruments.
(C) Current holdings at cost and market value of real estate
equities.
(D) Current holdings at cost and market value of mortgages.
(E) Options and forward commitments.
(F) Cash and cash equivalents.
(2) Disclose the following information on the rate of return of
the fund by type of asset:
(A) Time-weighted return on a five-year, three-year,
two-year, and one-year basis.
(B) Dollar-weighted return on a five-year, three-year,
two-year, and one-year basis.
(C) Summary of performance of an alternative theoretical portfolio
containing all investments and performance of comparable universes
and other indexes.
(b) Upon written request from a contracting agency that does not
participate in a risk pool, the board shall submit additional
quarterly reports to the contracting agency as described in this
subdivision. For the first quarter of the fiscal year, the report
shall be submitted within 120 days after the end of the quarter and
shall contain the agency's beginning balance for the fiscal year. For
the second and third quarters of the fiscal year, the report shall
be submitted to the contracting agency within 90 days after the end
of the quarter. For the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, the report
shall be submitted within 180 days after the end of the quarter and
shall contain the agency's balance as of the end of the fiscal year.
The report shall include, but need not be limited to, the following:
(1) All contributions made to the system by the contracting agency
and its employees. The contributions shall be reported as the
amounts paid and the amounts due from the contracting agency for both
employer contributions and employee contributions.
(2) All benefits paid by the system to members of the contracting
agency and their survivors and beneficiaries, including payments on
account of pension, death, and disability benefits, and withdrawals
of contributions. The benefits shall be reported as the total monthly
allowances paid to retirees, survivors, and beneficiaries; the
amount of total refunds paid; and the amount of any other lump sums
paid.
(3) An amount that represents any miscellaneous adjustments,
including transfers in and out.
(4) That quarter's portion of the agency's estimated share of the
system's administrative costs that shall be assessed at the end of
the fiscal year.
(5) The rate of return for the system during the quarter as
reported to the board by the investment committee.
(6) The estimated interest applied to the agency's account as
determined by the system. For purposes of this paragraph, the
"estimated interest applied" means the estimate of the annual net
earnings, as defined in Section 20052, and is subject to adjustment
at the end of the fiscal year based on the actual dollar-weighted
amount of investment return that shall be credited to the agency's
account for the fiscal year. The report for the fourth quarter of the
fiscal year shall also include the actual dollar-weighted amount of
investment return for the fiscal year that shall be credited to the
contracting agency's account.
(c) Upon written request from a contracting agency that
participates in a risk pool, the board shall submit to the
contracting agency quarterly reports that reflect the total
contributions made to the system by agencies in the risk pool, the
total benefits paid by the system with respect to the risk pool, the
total estimated share of administrative costs for the risk pool, and
the total estimated share of investment returns for the risk pool.
(d) A contracting agency requesting quarterly reports pursuant to
subdivision (b) or (c) shall pay a fee, in an amount determined by
the board, not to exceed one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500)
quarterly per agency while the manual process of collecting the
information is in use.
(e) Any report received by a contracting agency pursuant to this
section shall be made available by the agency to any employee
organization that represents the agency's employees and that requests
a copy of the report.
SEC. 3. SEC. 4. Section 21002 of the
Government Code is amended to read:
21002. A member who returns to active service following an
employer-approved uncompensated leave of absence because of his or
her serious illness or injury may purchase service credit for that
period of absence upon the payment of contributions as specified in
Sections 21050 and 21052. The purchase of additional service credit
pursuant to this paragraph section
shall not reduce the amount of service credit that the member is
eligible to purchase pursuant to this chapter. A member may purchase
service credit pursuant to this section for a leave of absence that
occurred either before or after the effective date of these
provisions.
SEC. 4. SEC. 5. Section 21004 of the
Government Code is amended to read:
21004. "Leave of absence" also means absence from state service
because of illness or injury that arose out of and in the course of
employment and for which the member received temporary disability
benefits under the Labor Code during the absence and did not receive
full compensation as distinguished from the disability benefits for
the period of absence.
SEC. 6. Section 22772 of the Government
Code is amended to read:
22772. (a) "Employee" means:
(1) An officer or employee of the state or of any agency,
department, authority, or instrumentality of the state, including the
University of California.
(2) An employee who is employed by a contracting agency ,
including, but not limited to, and participates in a
publicly funded retirement system provided by the contracting agency,
or an officer or official of a contracting agency if
the officer or official participates in the retirement system
provided by the employer .
(3) An annuitant receiving a retirement allowance pursuant to
Section 21228 who is employed by a contracting agency.
(4) A teaching associate, lecturer, coach, or interpreter employed
by the California State University who is appointed to work in an
academic year classification for at least six weighted teaching units
for one semester, or for at least six weighted teaching units for
two or more consecutive quarter terms. This paragraph does not apply
to a state member employed by the California State University, unless
provided for in a memorandum of understanding reached pursuant to
Chapter 12 (commencing with Section 3560) of Division 4 of Title 1 or
authorized by the Trustees of the California State University for
employees excluded from collective bargaining.
(5) All employees in job classes specified in subdivision (a) of
Section 14876.
(b) Except as otherwise provided by this part, "employee" does not
include any of the following:
(1) A person employed on an intermittent, irregular, or less than
half-time basis, or an employee similarly situated.
(2) A National Guard member described in Section 20380.5.
SEC. 5. SEC. 7. Section 75004.5 is
added to the Government Code, to read:
75004.5. All references to "spouse," "surviving spouse," or
"marriage" in this chapter apply equally to a domestic partner or
domestic partnership, as defined in Section 297 of the Family Code,
and all rights and responsibilities granted to a spouse or surviving
spouse shall be granted equally to a domestic partner to the extent
provided by Section 297.5 of the Family Code.
SEC. 6. SEC. 8. Section 75502 of the
Government Code is amended to read:
75502. (a) "Judge" means a justice of the Supreme Court or of a
court of appeal, or a judge of a superior court, municipal court, or
justice court who is first elected or appointed to judicial office on
or after November 9, 1994, and is not a member of the Judges'
Retirement System pursuant to Chapter 11 (commencing with Section
75000). A retired judge does not acquire status as a judge for the
purposes of this chapter by reason of designation as a temporary
judge of, or assignment by the Chairperson of the Judicial Council
to, any of these courts.
A former member of the Judges' Retirement System under Section
75002 who withdrew his or her contributions upon leaving office, and
who takes judicial office on or after November 9, 1994, becomes a
member of the system existing under Chapter 11 (commencing with
Section 75000) and does not become a member of the Judges' Retirement
System II. No person shall be a member of the Judges' Retirement
System II who is or ever has been a member of the Judges' Retirement
System pursuant to Chapter 11 (commencing with Section 75000).
(b) "System" means the Judges' Retirement System II established by
this chapter.
(c) "Service" means the period of time a judge received a salary
and made contributions to the system by reason of holding office as a
judge of any one or more of the courts of this state specified in
subdivision (a), computed in years and fractions of years.
(d) "Final compensation" means the average monthly salary of a
judge during the 12 months immediately preceding his or her
retirement from or otherwise leaving judicial office and as limited
by Section 75572.
(e) "Benefit factor" means the percentage used in calculating a
judge's monthly retirement allowance under Section 75522.
(f) "Contributions" means the accumulated deductions from the
judge's salary under Sections 75601 and 75602. References to payment
to a judge of his or her contributions or to the determination of a
judge's and spouse's shares in the contributions include both the
contributions and interest thereon at the rates determined by the
Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System.
(g) "Salary" means the compensation received by a judge as the
emolument of the office of judge, but does not include any additional
compensation received by reason of designation as a temporary judge
or assignment by the Chairperson of the Judicial Council or the
additional compensation pursuant to Section 68203.1.
(h) "Board" means the Board of Administration of the Public
Employees' Retirement System.
(i) "Fund" or "retirement fund" means the Judges' Retirement
System II Fund established pursuant to Section 75600.
(j) All references to "spouse," "surviving spouse," or "marriage"
in this chapter apply equally to a domestic partner or domestic
partnership, as defined in Section 297 of the Family Code, and all
rights and responsibilities granted to a spouse or surviving spouse
shall be granted equally to a domestic partner to the extent provided
by Section 297.5 of the Family Code.