BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1479|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1479
Author: Senate Public Employment and Retirement Committee
Amended: 5/10/10
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC EMP. & RET. COMMITTEE : 6-0, 4/12/10
AYES: Correa, Ashburn, Corbett, Cox, Ducheny, Liu
SENATE FLOOR : 35-0, 4/15/10
AYES: Aanestad, Alquist, Ashburn, Calderon, Cedillo,
Cogdill, Corbett, Correa, Cox, DeSaulnier, Florez,
Hancock, Harman, Hollingsworth, Huff, Kehoe, Leno, Liu,
Lowenthal, Maldonado, Negrete McLeod, Oropeza, Padilla,
Pavley, Price, Romero, Runner, Simitian, Steinberg,
Strickland, Walters, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Denham, Ducheny, Dutton, Wiggins,
Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 7/1/10 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : 1937 Act County Retirement Law System
Housekeeping Bill
SOURCE : Alameda County Employees Retirement Association
South Coast Air Quality Management District
State Association of County Employee Retirement
Systems
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DIGEST : This bill makes technical and non-controversial
changes to the 1937 Act County Retirement Law.
Assembly Amendments made clarifying changes and added
provisions regarding the exemption of a person, making less
than $80 per month, from membership in the association.
ANALYSIS :
1.Existing law:
A. Establishes the County Employees Retirement Law of
1937, which governs 20 independent county retirement
systems.
B. Allows an employee who moves from one public
employer to another public employer to accrue service
credit in separate public retirement systems and to
have reciprocity among the different retirement
systems with regard to certain benefits; however,
that employee cannot receive reciprocity if service
is earned in more than one retirement system during
the same period.
C. Allows the retirement board of a county retirement
system to set the date upon which a new employee
becomes a credited member of the system, but that
date must be no later than six weeks after the day of
entering employment with the participating country.
This bill allows the retirement board of a county to
set the date upon which a new employee becomes, or
ceases being, a member, but that date could be no
later than 12 weeks after the day of entering
employment with the county and no sooner than 12
weeks prior to ending employment under the previous
employer.
Source: State Association of County Employee
Retirement Systems
2.Existing law requires that counties in the 1937 Act
system transfer payments to the county retirement
associations to fund the cost of retiree benefits.
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Existing law also allows a county board of supervisors to
authorize the county auditor to make payments to the
retirement system in advance of when those payments would
otherwise be due.
This bill allows a district in San Bernardino County that
participates in the San Bernardino County Employee
Retirement Association (SBCERA) to also make advance
payments to that retirement system.
Source: South Coast Air Quality Management District, a
SBCERA
participating agency
3.Existing law establishes the Supplemental Retiree
Benefits Reserve (SRBR), to be used exclusively for the
benefit of retirees under county retirement systems that
have elected to be subject to those provisions
(specifically, Alameda, Kern and Tulare counties).
This bill clarifies that the administrative costs of
operating the SRBR in Alameda County may be paid through
the main retirement program in order to comply with IRS
rulings regarding the exclusive benefits rule.
Source: Alameda County Employees Retirement Association
4.Existing law authorizes a retirement board to include, by
regulation, provisions exempting or excluding from
membership persons whose tenure is temporary, seasonal or
intermittent, or for part time only, persons whose rate
of compensation is fixed at a rate of pay by the day or
hour.
This bill deletes the authorization for a retirement
board to exempt or exclude from membership a person whose
rate of compensation is less than $80 per month.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/2/10)
Alameda County Employees' Retirement Association
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(co-source)
State Association of County Retirement Systems (co-source)
South Coast Air Quality Management District (co-source)
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Bass, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block,
Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero,
Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto,
Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Eng, Evans, Feuer,
Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani,
Garrick, Gatto, Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi,
Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight,
Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Mendoza, Miller, Monning,
Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, Norby, V. Manuel Perez,
Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva, Skinner,
Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson,
Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada
NO VOTE RECORDED: Fletcher, Ma, John A. Perez, Vacancy
CPM:cm 7/2/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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