California’s public retirement systems, including the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS), county systems governed by the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 (CERL), and the State Teachers’ Retirement System (STRS), administer defined benefit programs that determine eligibility, benefit formulas, and compensation standards for public employees. Each system operates under its own statutory framework but shares common principles governing service credit, final compensation, and coordinated benefits for members with employment in multiple jurisdictions. These statutes establish procedures for calculating retirement allowances, crediting service across concurrent or reciprocal systems, and applying benefit caps and contribution limits. They also regulate membership, employer reporting duties, and post-retirement employment restrictions.
SB 853 revises several provisions across PERS, CERL, and STRS to align practices with the Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA). SB 853 standardizes how retirement systems calculate “compensation earnable” and “pensionable compensation” for members who participate in multiple systems or retire concurrently under PERS, STRS, the University of California Retirement System, or judicial and legislative plans.
SB 853 clarifies that “state service” includes county employment that qualifies as compensation under PEPRA and directs county systems to calculate final compensation during absences based on the member’s pay rate at the start of the absence.
SB 853 also limits retroactive conversions of general service to safety service for county prosecutors, public defenders, and investigators to service performed before January 1, 2013, while requiring post-2013 reclassifications to comply with PEPRA’s limits on safety benefits.
SB 853 strengthens reporting and compliance provisions within county retirement systems. It directs retirement boards to set their own reporting intervals for rehired retirees and authorizes a $200-per-month fee for employers that fail to report or enroll such employees on time. SB 853 allows retirement boards to recover administrative costs from employers or members who violate post-retirement employment limits.
SB 853 authorizes the Teachers’ Retirement Board to determine an “employer” or “employing agency” under STRS and to determine membership in the Defined Benefit Program under STRS. SB 853 updates the reduced workload program for educators by requiring the program to end when a member earns less than one-half of their annualized pay rate, instead of working less than one-half the required hours or days.
Finally, SB 853 requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for any costs the Commission on State Mandates identifies as state-mandated obligations.
(SB 853 amends Sections 22104.8, 22131, 22146.5, 22713, 22954, 22955, 22955.1, 24616.2, and 26122 of the Education Code, and amends Sections 7522.02, 20034, 20069, 20638, 20639, 31462.05, 31470.14, and 31680.9 of the Government Code.)