Public Employment and Retirement

• Civil Service
• Pension Reform
• State Teachers' Retirement System
• Miscellaneous

Note: * Denotes Urgency or Tax Levy Legislation.

Civil Service

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SB 13* (Beall-D) Public employees' retirement benefits

Makes various corrections and clarifications to the Public Employee's Pension Reform Act of 2013 in order to assist affected employers and retirement systems in its implementation.
Chapter 528, Statutes of 2013

SB 24 (Walters-R) Public employees' retirement: benefit plans

Eliminates the requirement that the Legislature approve the changes in a defined benefit pension plan that provides a defined benefit formula with a lower benefit factor at normal retirement age, and results in a lower normal cost. Also authorizes a local agency public employer or public retirement system that offers a defined benefit pension plan to offer a benefit formula with a lower benefit factor at normal retirement age and that results in a lower normal cost than the benefit formulas that are currently required, for purposes of addressing a fiscal necessity.
(In Senate Public Employment and Retirement Committee)

SB 215 (Beall-D) Public employee benefits

Makes various technical and conforming changes to the Public Employees' Retirement Law necessary for continued effective administration of the California Public Employees' Retirement System and allows a county operating a retirement system pursuant to the County Employee's Retirement Law of 1937 to establish procedures for the secure processing of member requests by telephone, as specified.
Chapter 778, Statutes of 2013

SB 216 (Beall-D) Public employment: salary ranges

Requires the Department of Human Resources to address salary compaction for managerial and supervisorial employees and provide data to the Legislature when insufficient revenue is available to implement a salary determination to increase managerial and supervisorial salaries by 10% over the salaries of their subordinate rank and file employees.
(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

SB 217* (Beall-D) State employees: State Bargaining Unit 9

Approves provisions of a memorandum of understanding entered into between the state employer and State Bargaining Unit 9, the Professional Engineers in California Government, that requires the expenditure of funds, and provides that these provisions become effective even if these provisions are approved by the Legislature in legislation other than the annual Budget Act. Specifies that provisions of the memorandum of understanding that require the expenditure of funds will not take effect unless funds for those provisions are specifically appropriated by the Legislature, and requires the state employer and the affected employee organization to meet and confer to renegotiate the affected provisions if funds for those provisions are not specifically appropriated by the Legislature.
(In Senate Public Employees and Retirement Committee)

SB 259 (Hancock-D) Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act: employees

Amends the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act to specifically include, for purposes of collective bargaining, student employees at the University of California, California State University, and Hastings College of Law whose employment is contingent on their status as students. Also clarifies, with respect to the University of California students, that work required to achieve satisfactory progress toward their academic degrees is excluded from the scope of representation in the collective bargaining process.
(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

SB 277 (Beall-D) State Peace Officers' and Firefighters' Defined Contribution

Closes the State Peace Officers' and Firefighters Defined Contribution Plan and defines how members' funds in the plan will be distributed.
Chapter 755, Statutes of 2013

SB 503* (Galgiani-D) State employees: memorandum of understanding

Approves provisions of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) entered into between the state employer and State Bargaining Unit 18, the California Association of Psychiatric Technicians, that requires the expenditure of funds, and specifies that these provisions become effective even if these provisions are approved by the Legislature in legislation other than the annual Budget Act. Provides that provisions of the MOU that require the expenditure of funds will not take effect unless funds for those provisions are specifically appropriated by the Legislature, and authorizes the state employer and the affected employee organization to reopen negotiations on all or part of the MOU if funds for those provisions are not specifically appropriated by the Legislature. Also appropriates $1,005,000 for expenditure in the 2013-14 fiscal year for state employee compensation, as prescribed.
(In Senate Public Employees and Retirement Committee)

SB 523 (Correa-D) Public employment: merit system: waiver

Provides that Orange County shall not be entitled to an administrative waiver of all or part of a local agency merit system by the State Personnel Board if the county is found to be out of compliance with a merit-based personnel system pursuant to an audit by the county or by the Board.
(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

SB 615 (Galgiani-D) Public works: prevailing wages

Expands the definition of "public works," for purposes of prevailing wage payment requirements, to also include any construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work done under private contract on a hospital or health care facility project when the project is paid for in whole or in part with the proceeds of conduit revenue bonds, as defined, that are issued on or after 1/1/15.
Vetoed

SB 619 (Yee-D) State employees: training: civics orientation

Requires the Department of Education, if private funds are secured for this purpose, to develop and make available online a state employee civics orientation on federal and state government by 1/1/15. Requires employees hired or promoted after 7/1/15, to complete the orientation, and for an appointing power or supervising official to certify completing at least once every two years. Requires the employing department to retain a record of completions for at least two years.
(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

SB 765 (Block-D) Public employees: collective bargaining

Permits a supervisory peace officer employee to join or participate in an employee organization and negotiating unit that is composed of nonsupervisory peace officers if the representation has been agreed to by the supervisory employee representative, the nonsupervisory peace officer representative, and the employer and those entities have informed the Public Employment Relations Board of their agreement. Also permits the employer to have a supervisory peace officer employee join a bargaining unit separate from the employees the supervisory peace officer employee supervises.
Vetoed

SB 774 (Walters-R) State employees: postemployment benefits

Amends the Public Employees' Medical and Hospital Care Act to (1) require 15 to 25 years of state employment to vest for lifetime state retiree health benefits for all state employees of the executive branch who are subject to collective bargaining and are who first hired on or after 1/1/15; (2) require all employers that provide the Act health care coverage to retirees, and their employees first hired after 1/1/15, to share equally in prefunding the normal actuarial costs of retiree health benefits; and (3) prohibit the state from providing retiree health benefits for employees first hired on or after 1/1/15, unless it fully funds those benefits.
(Failed passage in Senate Public Employment and Retirement Committee; reconsideration granted)

SB 775 (Walters-R) State employees: postemployment benefits

Requires the State Controller, in his/her annual report on the financial status of the state's public retirement systems and using data collected for that report, to evaluate the actuarial feasibility and associated costs of a statewide buyout of current state employees' vested retiree health care benefits.
(Failed passage in Senate Public Employment and Retirement Committee; reconsideration granted)

SB 778 (Nielsen-R) Public employment: salary ranges

Requires the Department of Human Resources to address salary compaction and parity concerns. Also requires the Department, when it is determined that revenues do not allow implementation of a salary determination to increase any excluded and exempt employee salaries in a given year, to provide to the Legislature existing data on the salary determination, including all salary compaction and parity determinations for supervisory and managerial employees.
(In Senate Public Employees and Retirement Committee)

SCA 15 (Yee-D) University of California: retirement benefits

Requires the University of California and its employees and the University of California Retirement Plan to conform with the requirements of the California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013.
(In Senate Public Employees and Retirement Committee)

AB 208 (Gorell-R) State employees: additional compensation

Prohibits a salaried state employee from taking an additional hourly wage job in the same department or agency unless this prohibition is in conflict with a memorandum of understanding.
(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

AB 226 (Atkins-D) Classified employees: school police: workweek

Authorizes the governing board of a school district or county superintendent to establish a 12-hour-per-day, 80-hour-per-2-week work schedule, also referred to as a 3/12-workweek schedule, for school police departments if agreed to in a collective bargaining agreement, as specified.
Chapter 73, Statutes of 2013

AB 236* (Rendon-D) State employees: memorandum of understanding

Ratifies the provisions of a memorandum of understanding between the state and State Bargaining Unit 7, Protective Services and Public Safety, represented exclusively by the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association.
(On the Assembly Inactive File)

AB 237* (Rendon-D) State employees: memorandum of understanding

Ratifies the provisions of a memorandum of understanding between the state and State Bargaining Unit 6, Corrections, represented exclusively by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association.
(On Assembly Inactive File)

AB 334 (Gomez-D) State personnel: employment of outside legal counsel

Creates an independent basis for the State Personnel Board to disapprove contracts by state agencies with private law firms for the provision of legal services if the state agency fails to provide a copy of the contract to State Bargaining Unit 2's designated representative as required by existing law.
(On Senate Inactive File)

AB 372 (Eggman-D) Civil service: veterans' preference in hiring

Deletes current provisions granting veterans' preference points in specified state civil service examinations and instead requires that whenever any veteran, widow or widower of a veteran, or spouse of a 100% disabled veteran achieves a passing score on an entrance examination, he/she will be ranked in the top rank of the resulting eligibility list.
Chapter 75, Statutes of 2013

AB 431 (Mullin-D) County Employees Retirement Law of 1937: federal compliance

Revises various provisions of the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 to explicitly conform with federal law.
(In Assembly Transportation Committee)

AB 478* (Gomez-D) State employees: memorandum of understanding

Provides the implementing language and necessary appropriations to ratify the recent memoranda of understanding agreed to by the state and the specified state bargaining units.
Chapter 391, Statutes of 2013

AB 507 (Garcia-D) Public employees' retirement: postretirement death benefits

Increases, over a period of four years, the post retirement death benefit paid to the beneficiary of a school member of the State Public Employees' Retirement System from $2,000 to $6,000.
(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

AB 537 (Bonta-D) Meyers-Milias-Brown Act: impasse procedures

Makes changes to the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act governing collective bargaining between local public agencies and their employees with respect to ground rules, ratifications of memoranda of understanding, mediation, and arbitration procedures.
Chapter 785, Statutes of 2013

AB 616 (Bocanegra-D) Public employee organizations: dispute: fact-finding panel

Amends the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act relating to bargaining impasse and fact finding procedures between local agencies and their respective employee representation organizations.
(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

AB 855 (Brown-D) State employees: absence without leave: reinstatement

Allows a state employee who is absent without leave to demonstrate he/she is able to resume job duties by submitting written verification from a licensed health care provider, as specified, and requires the Department of Human Resources to grant reinstatement if the appointing power (i.e., the employer) invokes the "automatic resignation for state service" provisions before the employee is absent without leave for five consecutive work days.
Vetoed

AB 872 (Dickinson-D) Public employees: rights

Enacts the Safety Accountability Fairness and Efficiency Act for Public Employees which provides various rights and protections to non-excluded state civil service employees, as specified, and requires that any adverse action taken against a state employee be initiated and the investigation completed within one year of discovery of the cause for discipline.
(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

AB 931 (Beth Gaines-R) Public Employees' Retirement System: health benefits

Requires the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System to establish a wellness program for state employees and annuitants that is consistent with the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. Requires the program to provide financial incentives for participation. Requires the program to include both provisions that require an individual to meet a standard related to a health factor to receive an incentive and provisions that only require participation. Also, on and after 1/1/14, requires the Board to offer a high deductible health plan, as defined in the federal tax law, and a health savings account option to public employees and annuitants, as specified. Establishes the Public Employees' Health Savings Fund, a continuously appropriated fund within the State Treasury, for payment of qualified medical expenses of employees and annuitants who elect to enroll in the high deductible health plan and participate in the health savings account option, and requires those employees and annuitants, and their employers, to make specified contributions to that Fund.
(In Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee)

AB 1062 (Jones-Sawyer-D) Human resources

Transfers certain functions and duties of the State Personnel Board to the Department of Human Resources. Designates the Department to share certain functions and duties with the Board and makes other related changes. Modifies the civil service process by deleting certain requirements related to notice of certain actions.
Chapter 427, Statutes of 2013

AB 1181 (Gray-D) Public employee organizations: paid leaves of absent

Expands provisions governing a local public agency's requirement to provide compensated time off for representatives of the recognized employee organization to participate in specified employee organization activities.
Chapter 305, Statutes of 2013

AB 1222* (Bloom-D) Public employees' retirement: collective bargaining

Exempts certain public transit workers from the requirements of the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 for a specified period of time pending a ruling from the federal district court, and authorizes cash flow loans-totaling up to $26 million-to local mass transit providers.
Chapter 527, Statutes of 2013

AB 1346 (Pan-D) Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District: employer contribution

Authorizes the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District to contract under the Public Employees Medical and Hospital Care Act, administered by the California Public Employees' Retirement System, for a retiree health care vesting schedule that is not currently available in law.
Chapter 774, Statutes of 2013

AB 1377* (Assembly Public Employees, Retirement And Social Security Committee) State employees: memorandum of understanding

Approves the recent memoranda of understanding agreed to by the state and the state bargaining units represented exclusively by the Service Employees International Union, Local 1000, as specified.
Chapter 63, Statutes of 2013

AB 1378* (Assembly Public Employees, Retirement And Social Security Committee) State employees: memorandum of understanding

Ratifies the provisions of a memorandum of understanding between the state and an as yet unspecified state bargaining unit.
(On Assembly Inactive File)

AB 1380 (Assembly Public Employees, Retirement And Social Security Committee) County employees' retirement

Makes various technical corrections and conforming changes that align the County Employees' Retirement Law of 1937 with the provisions of the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013.
Chapter 247, Statutes of 2013

ACR 61 (Beth Gaines-R) State employee merit awards

Declares that specified merit award payments, authorized by the five-member Merit Award Board and the Department of Human Resources, be made in amounts up to and including 20% of the first-year savings generated by each suggestion of the proposed recipients.
Resolution Chapter 138, Statutes of 2013

Pension Reform

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SB 220 (Beall-D) California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013

Makes various technical corrections and conforming changes that align the Public Employees' Retirement Law and other laws administered by the California Public Employees' Retirement System with the provisions of the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013, as enacted in AB 340 (Furutani-D, Chapter 296, Statutes of 2012).
Chapter 526, Statutes of 2013

AB 160* (Alejo-D) California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013

Excludes certain Taft-Hartley multiemployer retirement plans, and retirement plans for public employees whose collective bargaining rights are protected by provisions of the Federal Transit Act, from the provisions of the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013, as specified.
(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

AB 837 (Wieckowski-D) Public employees' retirement benefits

Makes the provision requiring new employees of specified public employers, the California State University, and the judicial branch who participate in a defined benefit plan to have an initial contribution rate of at least 50% of the normal cost rate for that defined benefit plan, rounded to the nearest 1/4 of 1%, or the current contribution rate of similarly situated employees, whichever is greater, applicable to new members employed by those entities and new members employed by the Legislature.
(In Senate Rules Committee)

AB 1381 (Assembly Public Employees, Retirement And Social Security Committee) State Teachers' Retirement Law: pension reform

Makes various technical corrections and conforming changes that align the Teachers' Retirement Law with the provisions of the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013, as enacted in AB 340 (Furutani-D, Chapter 296, Statutes of 2012).
Chapter 559, Statutes of 2013

State Teachers' Retirement System

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AB 125 (Wieckowski-D) State teachers' retirement: managerial positions

Amends the State Teachers' Retirement Law to include the positions of chief operating officer and chief financial officer in the list of positions for which the Teachers' Retirement Board has the authority to set the compensation and terms and conditions of employment, and limits the compensation for these individuals to 110% of the maximum salary payable to an investment director of the retirement system. Also requires the Board to report on improvements and cost savings relative to the new positions, as specified, and makes technical changes to certain prohibitions on working for a subsequent employer after separation from employment with the California State Teachers' Retirement System.
(On Senate Inactive File)

AB 611 (Bonta-D) State teachers' retirement

Requires, rather than allows, specified employer contributions to be deposited into the Teachers' Retirement Program Development Fund.
(In Senate Public Employment and Retirement Committee)

AB 708 (Nestande-R) Teachers: compensation: career technical education teachers

Requires, for a teacher who holds a five-year Clear Designated Subjects Career Technical Education Teaching Credential, that the three years of work experience, as specified, be deemed to be the equivalent of a baccalaureate degree, and requires that the holder of a five-year clear designated subjects career technical education teaching credential be placed on and advance along the salary schedule of the school district in the same manner as a teacher with a baccalaureate degree.
(In Assembly Education Committee)

AB 989 (Mullin-D) State teachers' retirement: account statements

Permits the Teachers' Retirement Board (TRB) to make an electronic delivery of member account statements, subject to specified requirements. Permits the California State Teachers' Retirement System, which is administrated by the TRB, to designate electronic delivery of the account statements as the default method by which members receive the statements. Also requires the System to notify the affected parties that they have the right to request delivery by mail, and that unless the affected party elects, in a manner specified by the TRB, delivery will be provided electronically.
Chapter 459, Statutes of 2013

AB 1379 (Assembly Public Employees, Retirement And Social Security Committee) Teachers' Retirement Law

Makes technical and non-controversial changes to the Teachers' Retirement Law, and serves as California State Teachers' Retirement System's annual housekeeping bill.
Chapter 558, Statutes of 2013

Miscellaneous

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SB 39* (De León-D) Local agencies: public officers: claims and liability

Requires an elected or appointed local public officer, as defined, to forfeit any contract or similar claim for retirement or pension benefits, other than those accrued benefits which he/she may be entitled to under the applicable public retirement system, if he/she has been convicted of specified felonies under state or federal law.
Chapter 775, Statutes of 2013

SB 496 (Wright-D) Improper governmental activity: disclosure: protection

Makes several technical and substantive changes to the whistleblower protection statutes for public employees and clarifies procedural rules for the State Personnel Board's administrative hearings and litigation over procedural questions regarding the right to sue.
Chapter 781, Statutes of 2013

SR 18 (Leno-D) LGBT: Government of Russia

Condemns the Russian government's attacks on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community and laws targeting LGBT people and their supporters, including tourists, athletes, and other participants in the XXII Olympic Winter Games; and deplores and condemns all laws and acts of violence, in both word and in action, that use the government as an instrument of discrimination, persecution, and legislation against the LGBT community and its supporters.
Adopted by the Senate

AB 205 (Pan-D) Public employees' retirement: pension fund management

Adds the board of retirement or board of investments of a retirement system established under the County Employees' Retirement Law of 1937 to the list of public retirement system boards that are authorized to prioritize investment in in-state infrastructure projects over alternative out-of-state projects if the investments are consistent with the board's fiduciary responsibility.
Chapter 766, Statutes of 2013

AB 298 (Pan-D) Rural Health Care Equity Program

Reestablishes, until 1/1/15, the Rural Health Care Equity Program and extends the benefit provided by that Program to all state employees and retired annuitants living in rural areas, as specified.
(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

AB 373 (Mullin-D) Public Employees' Long-Term Care Act

Expands enrollment eligibility criteria for the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) Long-Term Care program to include, subject to federal law, the adult children and domestic partners of CalPERS members and annuitants. Also provides the CalPERS Board authority to expand eligibility to all classes of persons who meet specified requirements, including applicable federal law that governs eligibility for a federally qualified state long-term care plan.
Chapter 768, Statutes of 2013

AB 410 (Jones-Sawyer-D) Public employee health benefits: enrollment

Permits a California Public Employees' Retirement System retiree to reinstate to active employment without losing his/her accrued retiree health benefits earned with the prior employer under the Public Employees' Medical and Hospital Care Act, which is administered by the System, as specified.
Chapter 525, Statutes of 2013

AB 526 (Melendez-R) Military service: benefits

Extends to a larger class of military reservists the enhanced financial protections currently offered only to service members ordered to active duty as part of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Also adds utility bills to the list of financial obligations subject to statutory deferment.
Chapter 236, Statutes of 2013

AB 761 (Dickinson-D) Public retirement systems: investments

Prohibits the California Public Employees' Retirement System and the California State Teachers' Retirement System from investing in companies that manufacture firearms or ammunition for a recipient other than the U.S. military.
(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

AB 785 (Weber-D) Public Employees' Retirement System: Board of Administration

Requires the California Public Employees' Retirement System, when requested by an employee organization that provides representation and other services to retirees, to provide assistance in performing a direct mailing to annuitants. States that the organization requesting the direct mailing is responsible for paying all costs associated with the mailing.
(In Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee)

AB 906 (Pan-D) Personal services contracts

Amends the Civil Service Act to prohibit the execution of those proposed personal services contracts until the state agency proposing to execute the contract permissible under specified conditions, without regard to cost savings, has notified all organizations that represent state employees who perform the type of work to be contracted. Requires the Department of General Services to establish a process to certify that notification.
Chapter 744, Statutes of 2013

AB 1163 (Levine-D) Public Employees' Retirement System: Board of Administration

Revises the composition of the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System. Eliminates the position of the State Personnel Board and replaces that position with the Director of the Department of Finance. Adds to the Board two persons, appointed by the Governor, who are independent, as defined, and have financial expertise. Specifies that these provision not become operative unless ratified by a majority of voters at a statewide election.
(In Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee)

HR 18 (Roger Hernández-D) Diversity in state government

Recognizes the people of the State of California for the diversity of their workforce and draws special public attention to areas of state service where diversity could be improved.
(In Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee)

Index (in Measure Order)

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Note: * Denotes Urgency or Tax Levy Legislation.