Under current law, safety members of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) who retire on or after January 1, 2013, due to a job-related (industrial) injury or illness, receive a disability retirement benefit equal to the highest of three possible calculations:
- Half the safety member’s final compensation plus an annuity purchased from the member’s contributions;
- The safety member’s service retirement allowance, if the member qualifies for service retirement; or
- An actuarially reduced service retirement allowance for safety members younger than 50 years, based on age and years of service.
This law was originally set to expire and sunset automatically on January 1, 2023, which would have eliminated the third formula. In many cases, this would have resulted in significantly reduced benefits for safety members who retire due to disability before age 50. AB 1722 deletes the sunset date, extending the alternative calculations indefinitely.
(AB 1722 amends Section 21400 of the Government Code.)
