BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2664|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 2664
Author: Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social
Security Committee
Amended: 5/9/12 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC EMPLOY. & RETIREMENT COMM. : 5-0, 6/11/12
AYES: Negrete McLeod, Walters, Gaines, Padilla, Vargas
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/21/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : County retirement
SOURCE : Los Angeles County Employees Retirement
Association
State Association of County Retirement Systems
DIGEST : This bill makes various changes to the laws
governing retirement systems established pursuant to the
County Employees Retirement Law of 1937.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Provides that in any transaction in which a public
entity is a party, and a signature is required, any
party may affix a digital signature that complies with
certain requirements; defines digital signatures; and,
requires that the digital signature conforms with
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AB 2664
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regulations of the Secretary of State.
2. Authorizes, pursuant to AB 232 (Fletcher and Hill),
Chapter 90, Statutes of 2009, the California State
Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) to develop and
implement a process for accepting electronic signatures
from members, while maintaining the same level of
security as required by existing CalSTRS law.
3. Establishes the manner in which CalPERS may adjust
retirement payments due to errors or omissions.
4. Establishes, pursuant to AB 1288 (Hayashi), Chapter 331,
Statutes of 2007, the County Retirement System Vision
Care Program to provide vision care benefits to '37 Act
retirees, their survivors, and eligible dependents.
This bill:
1. Allows the retirement boards of '37 Act retirement
systems to adopt regulations allowing for the use and
acceptance of a member's electronic signature with the
same force and effect as a signed, valid original
document.
2. Authorizes the Los Angeles County Employees' Retirement
Association (LACERA) to adjust retirement payments due
to errors or omissions in the same manner as the
CalPERS.
3. Establishes the County Retirement System Dental Care
Program (Program) to provide dental care benefits to
county and district retirees, their survivors, and
eligible dependents of '37 Act retirement systems that
elect to offer the Program. A retiree is responsible
for the full cost of the dental care premium and
counties electing to participate in the Program may
contract with a third party administrator to provide the
dental care.
4. Specifies that the dental benefits may be revised or
discontinued at any time.
Comments
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According to the sponsor, "A county retirement system may
accept a member's digital signature with the same force and
effect as a manual signature but only if it meets the
requirements of Section 16.5 of the Government Code and
regulations adopted by the Secretary of State. Compliance
with 16.5 and regulations adopted thereunder is so costly
and burdensome as to render it impractical for use by
county retirement systems and their members. LACERA
significantly limits the use of electronic signatures as a
result."
According to LACERA, while existing law authorizes '37 Act
boards of retirement to reduce the monthly retirement
benefits of members who fraudulently report compensation or
overstate earnings which result in improper increases in
their county pensions, the '37 Act does not contain a
statutory framework, similar to that contained in the
Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL), to correct errors
and omissions. They therefore recommend, that specific
sections be added to the '37 Act to mirror that of PERL in
order to provide LACERA with the authority and consistent
statutory limitations in which to correct these errors and
omissions.
There are 20 '37 Act counties, some of which provide dental
plans for their retirees. Based upon surveys of counties
not offering dental coverage for retirees, the State
Association of Counties estimates that this bill extends
dental coverage to 18,000 retirees and spouses.
Currently, individuals without sufficient health care
coverage must reassign their limited retirement dollars
from other activities to cover the increasing costs of
health care. That logic leads to individuals making
decisions to drop personal vision and dental care programs
to cover general health care costs.
For county retirees, the Legislature addressed this issue
for vision care with AB 1288 which allowed the '37 Act
counties to pool its eligible retirees to create a low cost
retiree vision care plan. The success of the vision care
plan has led to retirees requesting a similar plan for
dental benefits.
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FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/11/12)
Los Angeles County Employees' Retirement Association
(co-source)
State Association of County Retirement Systems (co-source)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees, AFL-CIO
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/21/12
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth
Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Gorell, Grove,
Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hill, Huber,
Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lara, Logue,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell,
Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan,
V. Manuel P�rez, Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth,
Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski,
Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Fletcher, Roger Hern�ndez, Perea
DLW:do 6/13/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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