BILL NUMBER: SB 538	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	CHAPTER  190
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  OCTOBER 11, 2009
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  OCTOBER 11, 2009
	PASSED THE SENATE  APRIL 23, 2009
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

INTRODUCED BY   Committee on Public Employment and Retirement
(Senators Correa (Chair), Ashburn, Benoit, Ducheny, Liu, Padilla, and
Wiggins)

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2009

   An act to amend Section 31663.15 of the Government Code, relating
to county employees' retirement.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 538, Committee on Public Employment and Retirement. County
employees' retirement: mandatory retirement.
   The County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 provides a
comprehensive set of rights and benefits for county and district
employees who are members of a retirement system subject to that law.
That law permits a county to require sheriffs, undersheriffs, and
marshals who are safety members to be retired at 60 years of age or
70 years of age. Existing law, applicable in Los Angeles County,
provides that a safety member is not subject to those mandatory
retirement provisions if a physician employed or approved by the
county certifies that the member is capable of performing his or her
assigned duties pursuant to standards set forth by the member's
employer.
   This bill would require Los Angeles, after having adopted these
provisions, to provide a safety member who is on a disability leave
of absence the opportunity to receive the physician certification
described above upon return from his or her leave.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 31663.15 of the Government Code is amended to
read:
   31663.15.  (a) Sections 31662.4, 31662.6, 31662.8, and 31663 shall
not apply to a person who is an active safety member described in
Section 31469.3 or 31470.4 if a physician employed or approved by the
county certifies that the safety member is capable of performing his
or her assigned duties pursuant to standards set forth by the member'
s employer.
   (b) This section shall also apply to a member who reinstates from
retirement pursuant to Section 31680.8.
   (c) A county that adopts this section shall provide a safety
member who is on a disability leave of absence the opportunity to
receive the physician certification described in subdivision (a) upon
return from his or her leave, and that member shall not be subject
to mandatory retirement pursuant to Section 31662.4, 31662.6, or
31662.8 prior to receiving that opportunity.
   (d) This section applies only to a county of the first class, as
defined by Section 28020, as amended by Chapter 1204 of the Statutes
of 1971, and Section 28022, as amended by Chapter 43 of the Statutes
of 1961.
   (e) This section shall not be operative in any county until the
board of supervisors shall, by resolution adopted by a majority vote,
make this section and Section 31680.8 applicable in the county. The
resolution of the board of supervisors may designate a date, which
may be prior to the date of the resolution or the effective date of
this section, upon which the resolution and this section shall be
operative in the county, and may further provide that a member,
described in Section 31470.4, who retired pursuant to Section 31662.4
or 31662.6, prior to April 1, 2007, is not eligible to reinstate
from retirement pursuant to Section 31680.8.