BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT & RETIREMENT BILL NO: SB 503
Gloria Negrete McLeod, Chair
Hearing date: August 22, 2011
SB 503 (Vargas) as amended 7/6/11 FISCAL: YES
JUDGES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM II: SERVICE CREDIT FOR TIME SERVED
AS A SUBORDINATE JUDICIAL OFFICER
HISTORY :
Sponsor: California Judges Association (CJA)
Prior legislation: AB 1099 (Havice)
Chapter 433, Statutes of 2001
AB 340 (Furutani, 2011)
Assembly Floor
SB 27 (Simitian, 2011)
Assembly Appropriations
SUMMARY :
As heard in this committee on April 11, 2011, SB 503 would
allow a judge to make a one-time written election, prior to
retirement, to purchase service credit in the Judge's
Retirement System II (JRS II) for any number of whole years a
judge served as a full-time subordinate judicial officer.
Amendments to SB 503 added in the Assembly would exempt a
subordinate judicial officer (SJO) whose position, upon
retirement, is converted to a judgeship, from being subject
to a prohibition from working as a retiree for 180 days
following retirement, should SB 27 also be enacted. These
amendments also add double-jointing language with SB 27
(Simitian) and AB 340 (Furutani).
BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS :
a) Existing law :
1) establishes the Judge's Retirement System I (JRS I)
which provides a set of rights and benefits to members
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of JRS I and is administered by the California Public
Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) Board of
Administration (this system was closed to new members as
of November 1994);
2) establishes the JRS II which provides a set of rights
and benefits to members of JRS II and is administered by
the CalPERS Board of Administration;
3) permits a judge at any time prior to retirement to
purchase service credit in JRS II for all of the time
served as a full-time "subordinate judicial officer" if
a written election is filed with the CalPERS board;
4) establishes specified reciprocity between JRS I and
JRS II, CalPERS, and counties operating retirement
systems under the County Employees' Retirement Law of
1937 ('37 Act);
5) defines a "subordinate judicial officer" as an
officer appointed to perform subordinate judicial duties
as authorized by the State Constitution, including, but
not limited to, duties as a court commissioner, probate
commissioner, child support commissioner, referee,
traffic referee, juvenile court referee, and juvenile
hearing officer; and
6) allows a retiree of CalPERS or the 1937 Act County
Retirement System (37 Act) to return to public
employment with an employer covered by the retirement
system he or she retired from on a part-time basis, as
specified. An employee who exceeds the limited time
base or earnings, as specified, may be subject to
reinstatement into the retirement system and reduction
or cessation of his or her retirement allowance or
earnings.
b) SB 27 (Simtian) and AB 340 (Furutani) would both prohibit
working as a retiree in public employment for the first 180
days of retirement. SB 27 applies to CalPERS retirees, and
AB 340 applies to 37 Act retirees.
c) This bill, as passed in this committee on April 11, 2011 ,
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would permit a judge to make a one-time written election to
the CalPERS board, prior to retirement, to purchase service
credit for any number of whole years or all of the time
served as a subordinate judicial officer prior to becoming
a judge.
d) Amendments to SB 503 , added in the Assembly on July 6,
2011, would exempt the following persons from the
requirement to wait 180 days before returning to work as a
retiree:
1) a retired SJO if all of the following occur:
A. The SJO's position, upon retirement, was
converted to a judgeship.
B. The retired SJO is returning to work in
that same converted position.
C. The employer is a trial court.
2) any person taking office as a judge of a court of
record pursuant to Article VI of the Constitution.
e) Amendments to SB 503 also add double-jointing language
with SB 27 and AB 340.
COMMENTS :
1)SJOs and Retirement System Membership
SJO's are not members of JRS I or JRS II, but are either
members of CalPERS, a 1937 Act County Retirement System, or
another county retirement system. There are currently 360
subordinate judicial officers. However, 98 of those
positions, upon vacancy, will be converted to judgeships
and will no longer be eligible to be filled by SJOs. Since
January 1, 2002, only one JRS II member has elected to
purchase SJO time.
2)Arguments in support
According to the author:
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"Judges choosing to purchase their subordinate judicial
officer (SJO) service time under JRS II are required to
pay for the JRS II service credit, at the actuarial
present value as determined by CalPERS. Current law
requires the former subordinate judicial officer to
purchase all of the time he or she served as an SJO,
which can be prohibitively expensive and more time than
necessary to qualify for full retirement under JRS II."
According to the sponsor:
"SB 503 makes a technical change applicable to the
circumstance where an SJO is appointed or elected as a
judge. Present law permits former judges with prior SJO
experience to purchase service credit in the judges'
retirement system for their SJO time. Unfortunately,
the law requires the purchase of the entire SJO time,
rather than a portion of that time. Not only is it
likely that a judge would not need to purchase the
entirety of the SJO time, but the cost could be
prohibitively expensive. This bill provides judges with
an additional bit of flexibility in retirement planning,
without imposing any costs on the retirement systems or
the state."
3) SUPPORT :
California Judges Association (CJA), sponsor
Judicial Council of California, co-sponsor
4) OPPOSITION :
None to date
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