(a) This section shall apply to any elected public officer who takes public office, or is reelected to public office, on or after January 1, 2006.
(b) If an elected public officer is convicted during or after holding office of any felony involving accepting or giving, or offering to give, any bribe, the embezzlement of public money, extortion or theft of public money, perjury, or conspiracy to commit any of those crimes arising directly out of his or her official duties as an elected public officer, he or she shall forfeit all rights and benefits under, and membership in, any public retirement system in which he or she is a member, effective on the date of final conviction.
(c) (1) The elected public officer described in subdivision (b) shall forfeit only that portion of his or her rights and benefits that accrued on or after January 1, 2006, on account of his or her service in the elected public office held when the felony occurred.
(2) Paragraph (1) shall apply to the extent permissible by law.
(d) Any contributions made by the elected public officer described in subdivision (b) to the public retirement system that arose directly from or accrued solely as a result of his or her forfeited service as an elected public officer shall be returned, without interest, to the public officer.
(e) The public agency that employs an elected public officer described in subdivision (b) shall notify the public retirement system in which the officer is a member of the officer’s conviction.
(f) An elected public officer shall not forfeit his or her rights and benefits pursuant to subdivision (b) if the governing body of the elected public officer’s employer, including, but not limited to, the governing body of a city, county, or city and county, authorizes the public officer to receive those rights and benefits.
(g) For purposes of this section, “public officer” means an officer of the state, or an officer of a county, city, city and county, district, or authority, or any department, division, bureau, board, commission, agency, or instrumentality of any of these entities.
(h) This section applies to any person appointed to service for the period of an elected public officer’s unexpired term of office.
(i) On and after January 1, 2013, this section shall not apply in any instance in which Section 7522.72 or 7522.74 applies.
(Amended by Stats. 2014, Ch. 238, Sec. 2. (AB 2476) Effective January 1, 2015.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018