(a) Notwithstanding Section 24806, persons other than teachers and other persons employed in a status requisite for membership in the State Teachers’ Retirement System, who are active or retired members of a district retirement salary plan established under Sections 24800 to 24812, inclusive, in any school district or districts in which the average daily attendance of all districts combined is in excess of 200,000, governed by the same governing board, may be transferred by the governing board of the district or districts, with the consent of the majority of the active members of the plan expressing their desires with respect to the transfer evidenced in the manner the governing board prescribes. However, no transfer of the active and retired members shall be effective for any purpose unless provision is made for retirement allowances for active and retired employees of the district as provided in subdivision (b).
(b) (1) Active and retired employees, including future employees, of the district or districts who otherwise would be members of the plan, persons who are members of the district’s retirement salary plan, and persons who were employees on June 30, 1957, and who attained age 65 years or over during the 12 months immediately preceding July 1, 1957, other than teachers and persons employed in a status requisite for membership in the State Teachers’ Retirement System or who were so employed prior to retirement, shall be made members and beneficiaries, respectively, of the Public Employees’ Retirement System according to the provisions of Part 3 (commencing with Section 20000) of Division 5 of Title 2 of the Government Code, including transfer to the system of the accumulated contributions of the members, together with the other assets of the plan as may be determined. However, the total of the other assets transferred shall not be greater than the portion of the reserves of the plan that is allocable to the active and retired employees, as determined by actuarial valuation. In the valuation the portion of the reserves allocable to the active and retired employees proposed to be transferred shall be determined as an amount which bears the same ratio to the total reserves under the plan as the liabilities under the plan on account of the active and retired employees bear to the total liabilities under the plan on account of all active and retired employees under the plan. On the effective date of the contract making the active employees members of the Public Employees’ Retirement System, the employees shall cease to be members of the plan, and neither they nor retired persons who are made beneficiaries of the state system, shall be paid or have any right to any allowance or other benefit under the plan for time beginning with the effective date.
(2) With respect to persons who are members of the plan at the transfer, it shall be provided in the contract making the employees members of the Public Employees’ Retirement System, that their respective rates of contribution under the plan shall be based on the age at the nearest birthday at July 1, 1944, or at the respective later effective dates of their membership in the plan, all instead of the age at the nearest birthday at the effective date of membership in the employees’ system.
(3) Each employee of the district or districts who is included in the contract, but who during all or part of his or her employment in a status requisite for membership in the plan was not a member thereof, because of his or her election under an available option, or who, while employed in a status not requisite for membership in the plan, was a member of the State Teachers’ Retirement System and was contributing to that system, or who did not redeposit upon reentry into membership contributions previously withdrawn, shall have the right to elect by written document filed with the Board of Administration of the Public Employees’ Retirement System, at any time within 90 days after the date upon which the notice of the right to make the election is mailed by the system either to the member’s latest address on file in the office of the system, or to the office of the governing board of the district or districts, and prior to the date of retirement, to contribute to the system, subject to minimum payments fixed by the board of administration, and in one or more sums, or in not to exceed 60 monthly payments, an amount which, when added to his or her accumulated contributions, including interest, transferred as required in paragraph (1), will make a total amount equal to the accumulated contributions, including interest, that would have been credited to him or her in the plan, if he or she had never elected not to be a member thereof, or if he or she had been a member of the plan during the time he or she was a member of the State Teachers’ Retirement System and was contributing to the system, or if he or she had redeposited the withdrawn contributions upon reentry, as the case may be. The employee shall pay to the Public Employees’ Retirement System interest on the unpaid balance of the amount payable to the system, beginning with the date of transfer, at the rate of interest currently used from time to time under the system. If the employee elects to make, and makes the contributions, and pays the interest, but not otherwise, he or she shall receive credit under the employees’ system, as state service, for all the service rendered while he or she was not a member of the plan, because of his or her optional exclusion, or for service rendered while he or she was contributing to the State Teachers’ Retirement System, provided the service is no longer credited under the teachers’ system, or for all service upon which the withdrawn contributions were based, and for the purpose of paragraph (2) shall be considered as a member of the plan at the transfer and from November 1, 1937, or later beginning date of the service. Regardless of whether the contributions are made, the employee shall receive credit for service with which he or she was credited or would have been credited if he or she had been a member, as prior service under the plan. The contributions under this paragraph shall be added to and administered in the same manner as the contributions transferred under paragraph (1).
(4) Service rendered by active employees who are made members of the Public Employees’ Retirement System prior to or after the assumption by the district or districts of the function under which the service was rendered, but prior to the effective date of the contract making active employees members, and the compensation for which was paid wholly or in part from funds other than the funds of the district or districts, shall be credited under the employees’ system, provided the service qualified for credit under the plan.
(5) The contract making the active employees members of the Public Employees’ Retirement System, shall include the employees with respect to service rendered in a status in which they are not eligible for membership in the State Teachers’ Retirement System, as provided in Section 20491 of the Government Code, and also with respect to service rendered in a status in which they are eligible for that membership, but that is no longer credited under the teachers’ retirement system, and the service shall be credited in the manner applicable to service otherwise qualifying for credit.
(6) Retirement allowances being paid under the plan to retired employees of the district or districts, who are made beneficiaries of the Public Employees’ Retirement System, shall be changed by action of the governing board of the district, effective at the transfer, to retirement allowances calculated on the basis of service used in the calculation of the respective allowances under the plan, and average annual salary earnable during the highest three consecutive years of creditable service, calculated according to the methods used at the date of transfer, under the plan in determining salary earnable, but excluding any salary based on overtime as provided in Section 20025.2 of the Government Code, but otherwise according to the formulae under the employees’ system that apply to active employees who are made members of the employees’ system. The changed allowances shall be paid to the beneficiaries for time commencing on the date they are made beneficiaries of the employees’ system. No allowance shall be reduced by the change.
(7) If two or more districts under the control and management of a single governing board are participants in the plan, one contract between the board of administration and the governing board may include all the districts. The governing board may apportion the total contributions required under the contract, among the districts on the basis of total salaries upon which the contributions are computed, and on the basis of other pertinent information.
(8) The contract making these active employees members of the Public Employees’ Retirement System shall provide that the service included in the calculation of the completed years of service as a basis for the portion of the basic death benefit provided in subdivision (b) of Section 21361 of the Government Code for persons who were members of the plan at transfer, shall not be limited to service under the Public Employees’ Retirement System, but instead that service rendered as members of the plan shall also be included.
(Repealed and added by Stats. 1993, Ch. 893, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 1994.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018