BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 966
Author: Assembly Public Employment Retirement & S. S.
Committee
Amended: 6/2/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC EMP. & RET. COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/8/09
AYES: Correa, Ashburn, Benoit, Ducheny, Liu, Padilla,
Wiggins
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-0, 5/14/09 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Public Employees Retirement law: omnibus
technical bill
SOURCE : California Public Employees Retirement System
DIGEST : This bill makes several minor or technical
amendments to various sections of the Government Code
administered by California Public Employees' Retirement
System that are necessary for the continued efficient
administration of the system.
ANALYSIS :
Specifics of AB 966:
CONTINUED
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1.This bill clarifies the language defining final
compensation for member of specified bargaining units to
make it clear that these provisions apply to member
hired for the first time after January 1, 2007.
2.This bill clarifies that the final compensation period
is 12 consecutive months for optional National Guard
members.
3.This bill specifies that National Guard Service does not
count as state service for the purpose of vesting for
retiree health benefits in accordance with the original
intent of the legislation.
4.This bill increases, from three to 10 years from the
time of discovery, the period of time in which
California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS)
can recover overpayments due to the death of a retired
member or beneficiary.
5.This bill permits CalPERS to purchase or construct a
building outside the region to be used as an emergency
or business continuity center.
6.This bill allows CalPERS to specify the manner in which
a member must provide notice of a change in status in
order to allow for electronic notification.
7.This bill clarifies that while the Department of Finance
or the State Auditor are barred under existing law from
duplicating CalPERS' periodic financial audits, they are
not precluded from conducting other types of audits on
the system.
8.This bill recodifies provisions concerning National
Guard members in an appropriate subsection of the
government code to enhance comprehension and
administration.
9.This bill prohibits an employer from passing on to an
employee costs associated with the employer's failure to
enroll an employee into membership and requires an
employer that fails to withhold and submit an employee's
contributions within the applicable timeframe to notify
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CalPERS and to take no action until authorized by
CalPERS.
10.This bill clarifies the standards for mandatory
membership threshold for part-time employees so that
simply meeting the threshold is sufficient.
11.This bill expands the authority of a contracting agency
to amend its contract or previous contract amendments to
provide different benefits with respect to service
performed after the effective date of the contract
amendment if provided to everyone in a classification,
to the new local safety officer, local sheriffs and
school safety member classifications.
12.This bill extends the prohibition on providing benefits
to some, but not all members of a class to the new local
safety officer and school safety member classifications.
13.This bill clarifies the payroll reporting guidelines for
school employees by defining the term "payrate" more
clearly. Also addresses concerns regarding the correct
terminology referring to classified school employees by
removing the term "noncertificated."
14.This bill clarifies that the term "compensation
earnable" as it is used in the part-time service section
falls under the same definition of compensation earnable
as used in other parts of the law.
15.This bill removes the requirement that a member must
have 20 years of state service in order to be eligible
for partial service retirement.
16.This bill specifies that the effective date of a
retirement application submitted more than nine months
after the member's discontinuance of state service is
the first of the month in which the member's application
is received at an office of the board or by an employee
of CalPERS designate by the board.
17.This bill authorizes CalPERS to bill any retired member
whose warrant is insufficient to pay for benefits they
are receiving. The amendments would clarify that this
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section applies equally to all members.
18.This bill allows CalPERS to grant a retirement effective
date earlier than the first day of the month in which
the nonmember's application is received in CalPERS if
the application is received within nine months of the
requested effective date, eliminating the disparity
between the guidelines for setting member and non-member
retirement dates.
19.This bill ensures that the benefits paid out to a member
will never exceed the Internal Revenue Code Section 415
(IRC 415) limits, irrespective of other regulations
regarding the payment of cost of living adjustments
(COLAs).
20.This bill lengthens the time frame, from 30 to 60 days,
the open enrollment period for retiring state employees
enrolled in flexible benefit plans to enroll in a
CalPERS offered health plan.
21.This bill clarifies how final benefit payments are to be
paid following the death of a member of the Judges
Retirement System (JRS) I or II if there is no estate.
22.This bill requires reinstatement and forfeiture of
allowance for JRS I and JRS II members elected or
appointed to the bench after retirement.
23.This bill makes several technical and non-substantive
amendments to the Public Employees Retirement Law (PERS
Law) necessary to avoid confusion in the administration
of the laws.
See 'Background' section of Senate Public Employment and
Retirement analyses for a comparison of current law and the
bill.
Prior legislation
AB 3041 (Assembly Public Employees' Retirement System and
Social Security Committee), of 2008 which was vetoed by the
Governor due to the 2008-2009 State Budget delay.
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FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/29/09)
California Public Employees' Retirement System (source)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees
California School Employees Association, AFL-CIO
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill Berryhill,
Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Brownley,
Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro,
Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore,
Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,
Fuller, Furutani, Galgiani, Gilmore, Hagman, Hall,
Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman,
Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande,
Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel Perez,
Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Silva, Skinner,
Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres,
Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada
NO VOTE RECORDED: Ammiano, Fuentes, Gaines, Garrick,
Saldana, Smyth, Bass
DLW:do 6/29/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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