BILL NUMBER: SB 1203	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 13, 2016
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MARCH 28, 2016

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Hertzberg

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2016

   An act to add Section 7522.05 to the Government Code, relating to
retirement.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1203, as amended, Hertzberg. Retirement systems: joint powers
authorities: benefit formulas.
   The California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013
(PEPRA) requires a public retirement system, as defined, to modify
its plan or plans to comply with the act and, among other provisions,
establishes new retirement formulas that may not be exceeded by a
public employer offering a defined benefit pension plan for employees
first hired on or after January 1, 2013. Existing law, the Joint
Exercise of Powers Act, generally authorizes 2 or more public
agencies, by agreement, to jointly exercise any common power, which
may include hiring employees and establishing retirement systems.
   This bill would  require   authorize  a
joint powers authority to offer defined benefit plans or formulas
that are not PEPRA plans or formulas provided that the plans or
formulas were those the employees received prior to the creation of
the authority, the employees are not new members under PEPRA, and
they are employed by the authority with 180 days, as specified.
   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 7522.05 is added to the Government Code, to
read:
   7522.05.  (a) A joint powers authority formed on or after January
1, 2013, and formed pursuant to the provisions of the Joint Exercise
of Powers Act (Article 1 (commencing with Section 6500) of Chapter
5), where at least one member agency provided benefits on or before
December 31, 2012, as described in subdivision (c) of Section
7522.02,  shall   may  provide employees of
that joint powers authority the defined benefit plan or formula that
those employees received from their respective employers prior to
the exercise of a common power where that employee was not a new
member with that employer and subsequently is employed by the joint
powers authority within 180 days of the member agency providing for
the exercise of a common power.
   (b) The formation of a joint powers authority on or after January
1, 2013, shall not act in a manner as to exempt a new employee or a
new member, as defined by Section 7522.04, hired by that joint powers
authority from the requirements of the Public Employees' Pension
Reform Act of 2013. New members may only participate in a defined
benefit plan or formula that conforms to the requirements of the
Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013.