Source: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=EDC&division=1.&title=1.&part=13.&chapter=34.&article=
Timestamp: 2017-10-21 03:29:17
Document Index: 359418013

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 3', 'art 3', 'art 5', 'art 7', 'art 8', 'art 19', 'art 25', 'art 3', 'art 3']

CHAPTER 34. Administration of the District Retirement Salary Plan [24800 - 24813]
( Chapter 34 added by Stats. 1993, Ch. 893, Sec. 2. )
(a) All payments from the district retirement fund shall be made in the same manner as payments from school district funds but shall be subject to approval of the district retirement board. Warrants drawn on the fund shall be signed by at least one member of the district retirement board who shall be designated by the board.
(b) The duties imposed upon the county treasurer shall be a part of his or her official duties, for the faithful performance of which he or she shall be liable upon his or her official bond.
(a) Any other provisions of law to the contrary notwithstanding, whenever any retirement benefits under a district retirement system payable solely by reason of death of the retired member to his or her estate, heir or beneficiary have been unclaimed for a period of four years from the date of notification, by the district retirement system, by means of United States mail, to the estate, heir or beneficiary, such funds shall revert to and become a part of the contributions of the district and shall be applied to reduce the cost to the taxpayers of the district maintaining the retirement system.
(b) The district retirement system may at any time after reversion of these benefits to the district and upon receipt of proper information satisfactory to it, return from district contributions, an amount equal to that which had, on account of the deceased member, reverted to the district.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, whenever any warrant drawn in payment of contributions or accumulated contributions or benefits under a district retirement system, remains unclaimed or the claimant cannot be found, the proceeds of the warrant shall be redeposited in the respective fund, or funds, from which they were derived, and held for the claimant, without further accumulation of interest, and the redeposit shall not operate to reinstate the membership of the claimant in the district retirement system. If the proceeds, whether heretofore or hereafter redeposited, are not claimed within four years after the date of redeposit, they shall revert to and become a part of the contributions of the district and shall be applied to reduce the cost to the taxpayers of the district maintaining the retirement system and on account of which the contributions were made.
(a) If any benefit is payable by a district retirement system to the estate of a deceased person, whether because the estate is the beneficiary of the person or because no beneficiary was designated or because an allowance payable to the person had accrued and remained unpaid at the date of the death, and the estate would not be administered if no amount were due from the system, then the benefit shall be paid directly without procuring letters of administration to the surviving next of kin of the deceased, or the guardians of the survivors’ estates, share and share alike. The payment shall be made in the same order in which the following groups are listed:
(2) Children and issue of deceased children by right of representation.
(3) Father and mother.
(5) Nieces and nephews.
(b) Payment may also be made to persons in the groups listed in subdivision (a) to the extent those persons are the only beneficiaries under the last will and testament of a deceased former member of a district retirement system, without the probate of the will.
(Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 50, Sec. 29. Effective January 1, 2017.)
Except in the case where the deceased former member of a district retirement system leaves a will, no payment shall be made to persons included in any group specified in subdivision (a) of Section 24803, if at the date of death of any person or persons to whom any benefit is payable by a district retirement system there are living persons in any of the groups preceding it, as listed. Payment to the persons in any group, upon receipt from them of an affidavit upon a form supplied by the system, that there were no surviving individuals in the groups preceding it, or that they are one of the beneficiaries in any group specified in subdivision (a) of Section 24803 under the will of the deceased former member, and that the estate of the deceased will not be administered, is in full discharge of the liability of the board and system on account of the death.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, whenever any member of the district retirement system dies while in active membership status, including those on a deferred membership status, or within four months after the termination of the member’s employment in a status requisite for membership in the retirement system, benefits payable at death, unless a claim by someone other than the designated beneficiary or beneficiaries is filed with the retirement system during the period provided in this section, shall be paid to the beneficiary or beneficiaries designated by him on a form provided by the retirement system and on file in the office of the retirement system prior to the death of the member.
(b) Payment to a beneficiary or beneficiaries designated in the form on file in the retirement system at the date of death by a warrant drawn prior to any claim under a will or under community property rights, shall constitute full discharge of any and all liability of the district retirement board and retirement system by reason of the member’s death. The retirement system shall provide a 30-day claim period subsequent to notification of death before drawing a warrant in favor of the designated beneficiary or beneficiaries.
(b) (1) Active and retired employees of the district or districts who otherwise would be members of the plan, 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 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 employees, together with any other assets of the plan as may be determined.
(2) With respect to persons who are members of the plan at its discontinuance, 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 system shall be based on the age at the nearest birthday on 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 failed to 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 to the member’s latest address on file in the office of the system, 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 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 discontinuance of the plan 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 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 its discontinuance 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 the assumption by the district or districts of the function under which the service was rendered, such as, but not limited to, cafeterias and student body activities, shall be credited under the employees’ system, provided the service qualified for credit under the discontinued 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 membership, but that is no longer credited under the retirement system, and the service shall be credited in the same manner applicable to service otherwise qualifying for credit.
(6) Retirement allowances being paid under the discontinued 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 districts, effective at the discontinuance of the plan, 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 discontinuance, 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 thereof. The changed allowances shall be paid to beneficiaries for time commencing on the date they are made beneficiaries of the employees’ system. No allowance shall be reduced by the change.
(8) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the contract making active employees members of the Public Employees’ Retirement System, shall include teachers and persons employed in a status requisite for membership in the State Teachers’ Retirement System, with respect to service rendered in a status in which they would have been eligible for membership in the Public Employees’ Retirement System, if the district or districts by which they were employed had been participating in that system under Part 3 (commencing with Section 20000) of Division 5 of Title 2 of the Government Code. Contributions deducted from salary earned by the employees in that service, together with credited interest, and standing to the credit of the employees at the effective date of discontinuance of the plan, shall be subject to paragraph (1), in the same manner as they would have been so subject if the employees had been employed at the date of the discontinuance, in a status which was not requisite for membership in the State Teachers’ Retirement System. The employees shall be members of the Public Employees’ Retirement System with the same effect, but only with respect to that service, as if they had been employed in a status that would have qualified them for membership under other paragraphs of this subdivision. The employees shall continue in membership and shall be entitled to benefits in the same manner as if they individually were credited with at least five hundred dollars ($500) in accumulated contributions. In the computation of the members’ benefits under the Public Employees’ Retirement System, their compensation earnable while they are members of the State Teachers’ Retirement System shall be taken into consideration.
(c) Notwithstanding Sections 35161, 35162, Article 1 (commencing with Section 7000) of Chapter 1 of Part 5, Article 2 (commencing with Section 10010) of Chapter 1 of Part 7, Article 1 (commencing with Section 12500) of Chapter 5 of Part 8, this part, Article 5 (commencing with Section 32340) of Chapter 3 of Part 19, and Part 25 (commencing with Section 44000), contributions to the discontinued district retirement plan made by teachers and other persons employed by the district or districts in a status requisite for membership in the State Teachers’ Retirement System standing to their individual credit at the date of discontinuance of the district retirement plan shall be deposited in the Retirement Annuity Fund with credited interest, to be applied on the amount due from the teachers, but not to exceed the amount due. Likewise an amount equal to the actuarial equivalent of the annuity portion of the retirement allowance to which the respective retired teachers and other persons employed by the district or districts, prior to retirement, in a status requisite for membership in the State Teachers’ Retirement System were entitled under the plan, based on the interest rate and mortality tables used in its determination, shall be deposited in the Retirement Annuity Fund, to be applied on the amount due from the respective retired teachers, but not to exceed the amount due. Any excess of the contributions with credited interest or the actuarial equivalents, as the case may be, over the respective amounts due under those sections, shall be paid to the respective active and retired teachers and other persons. Further amounts, if any, due under those sections after the deposits, shall be paid to the Retirement Annuity Fund by the respective active and retired teachers and other persons. If any of the teachers or other persons who is not retired, is not entitled to credit under the State Teachers’ Retirement System for all or part of his or her service credited under the plan, or if any of the retired teachers or other persons is not entitled to a retirement allowance from the system, either before or after the discontinuance, the provisions of this subdivision about contributions and credited interest or about the actuarial equivalent of annuity portions of retirement allowances, as the case may be, shall not apply to him or her with respect to service that is not credited under the state system, until and unless he or she becomes entitled to credit for that service or to an allowance from the state system, based on service that was credited to him or her under the discontinued plan. The balance of the assets held in the various funds of the discontinued district retirement plan after the transfers, deposits, and payments required by this section, or after establishment of reserves from which the transfers, deposits, and payments shall be made, shall be delivered to the district or districts in which the plan is discontinued.
(d) The district or districts in which the district retirement plan is discontinued shall pay monthly to teachers and other persons employed by the district or districts, prior to retirement, in a status requisite for membership in the State Teachers’ Retirement System who were retired prior to the date of the discontinuance an amount equal to the amount by which the retirement allowance to which any of the retired teachers or other persons was entitled under the plan exceeds the increase in the teacher’s or other person’s retirement allowance under the State Teachers’ Retirement System resulting from the discontinuance. If the amount payable to any teacher or other person, under the previous sentence, is less than two dollars ($2), the district or districts may pay, in lieu of that amount, one amount that shall be actuarially equivalent to the monthly amount thereafter payable, according to the interest rate and mortality table used in the determination of the teacher’s or other person’s retirement allowance under the district retirement plan. The payment of the actuarially equivalent amount shall discharge fully the district’s liability to the teacher or other person under this subdivision. The arrangement under which the amounts are paid by the district shall not be considered to be a local retirement system for the purposes of Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 22000) to Chapter 19 (commencing with Section 23200), inclusive, and Chapter 21.5 (commencing with Section 23700), nor shall the amount be taken into account in the calculation of retirement allowances under the State Teachers’ Retirement System. If any of the teachers or other persons is not entitled to a retirement allowance from the State Teachers’ Retirement System, either before or after discontinuance, the district or districts shall pay monthly to him or her, an amount equal to his or her retirement allowance under the plan prior to the discontinuance. If any teacher or other person has left the service of the district or districts, and is in a status under the plan, which if continued would qualify him or her for a retirement allowance without his or her return to that service, but is in a status that would otherwise not qualify him or her for retirement under the state system, the district or districts shall pay monthly to the teacher or other person, beginning at the date upon which he or she would have qualified for service retirement under the plan, an amount equal to the retirement allowance for which he or she would have qualified if the plan had not been discontinued. If any teacher or other person has credit under the plan for service that does not qualify for credit under either the State Teachers’ Retirement System or Public Employees’ Retirement System, the district or districts shall pay monthly to the teacher or other person, beginning on the date upon which he or she would have qualified for service retirement under the plan, an amount equal to the retirement allowance for which he or she would have qualified on the basis of that service if the plan had not been discontinued. If the individual at a later date becomes entitled to a retirement allowance from the state system, based on service that was credited to him or her under the discontinued plan, the monthly payments shall cease, and he or she shall become subject to subdivision (c), and the first four sentences of this subdivision, in the same manner as he or she would have been subject, if he or she had been entitled to a retirement allowance at the date of discontinuance, but calculation of actuarial equivalents and amounts payable shall be made as of the later date.
(e) If any person who was retired prior to the discontinuance from a position requisite for membership in the State Teachers’ Retirement System, under a district retirement salary plan that is discontinued pursuant to this section, elected either under the plan or under the system, but not under both, to have the retirement allowance modified according to an option under which he or she would receive a smaller allowance and provide a benefit for his or her beneficiary, the person shall have the right, to be exercised not later than 60 days after the discontinuance of the plan, to change his or her election under the State Teachers’ Retirement System with respect to the options. Any computations of actuarial equivalent under a changed election shall be made as of the date of discontinuance of the plan, and no adjustment shall be included in the computation on account of retirement allowance payments made prior to that date.
(Amended by Stats. 1994, Ch. 933, Sec. 107. Effective September 28, 1994.)
(a) Sixty-five percent of the balance shall be distributed to the undistributed reserve of the general fund of the district to be reduced to cash as necessary and appropriated in any year by majority vote of the governing board. Until the balance of the assets has been reduced to cash, the governing board may invest and reinvest the assets in securities legal for the investment of funds of the State Teachers’ Retirement System when in the judgment of the governing board any sale and reinvestment is advisable. Ten percent of this amount shall be used only for maintenance operation.
(b) Twenty percent of the balance shall be transferred to a special account in the undistributed reserve of the district’s general fund to be reduced to cash as necessary in order to be used only for the purpose of reducing the tax collected pursuant to former Section 23401, as it read on January 1, 1979, in order to provide the contributions required by Section 22950 to the Teacher’s Retirement Fund. In the event that the special account is not wholly distributed for the purpose of making the contribution, the balance in the special account shall be released to the undistributed reserve. Until the balance of the assets has been reduced to cash, the governing board may invest and reinvest the assets in securities legal for the investment of funds of the State Teachers’ Retirement System when in the judgment of the governing board any sale and reinvestment is advisable.
(3) An account shall be opened in the name of each person eligible to participate in the benefits of the annuity reserve fund to which shall be credited his or her share of the annuity reserve fund. The individual participant’s share of this fund shall bear the same ratio to the total of this fund as his or her annuity savings contributions, including interest earned, to the retirement system, to which he or she is making annuity contributions as of June 30, 1972, or any later date of discontinuance, or, if a retired member, the date of retirement prior to June 30, 1972, bears to the total annuity savings contributions, including interest earned, of all such participants in the retirement systems to which they are making contributions at the date of discontinuance, including total contributions to the local district retirement system previously made by living members on the retired roll. The fund shall include principal and interest in the account of any participant forfeited because the participant separated from service, except by reason of retirement, including deferred retirement, or death, within five years from June 30, 1972, or other date of discontinuance. The forfeiture shall be treated as earnings of the fund.
(4) As of June 30 each year, and on any other dates the annuity reserve fund board may determine, the earnings of the fund less administrative expense shall be credited to the accounts of the remaining participants in the annuity reserve fund on the ratio that the participant’s individual account balance bears to the total balance of the annuity reserve fund. The cost of administering the fund shall be charged against the assets of the fund, as approved by the governing board of the school district.
(5) When a participant separates from service, the earnings since the preceding date on which the earnings of the fund, less administrative expenses, were credited to the accounts of the participants, shall remain in the fund. Any member whose accumulated contributions to the local retirement system exceed the amount required by law to be deposited by the member in the State Teachers’ Retirement System’s Annuity Fund upon discontinuance of the local system may deposit to his or her credit all or part of the excess amount in the annuity reserve fund.
(9) Any funds raised for the support of the local district retirement system and not appropriated to any specific account shall be transferred to the annuity reserve fund. All payments from the district’s annuity reserve fund shall be made in the same manner as payments from school district funds. The annuity reserve fund board may, at its discretion, request the district governing board to hold an election among existing annuity reserve fund participants as to whether the board should distribute existing funds in the annuity fund. The annuity reserve fund board may prescribe all rules and regulations regarding such an election and may distribute the funds if a majority of the members so elect.
24807.5.
Any certificated employee of a district having an annuity reserve fund may enter into an amendment of his or her employment contract for the purpose of effecting a reduction in salary. The reduction shall be deposited by the employer, at the employee’s request, in the district’s annuity reserve fund. The deposits shall be used to provide the employee an annuity within the meaning of Section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C.A. Sec. 403(b)).
24807.7.
Notwithstanding Section 24807, the annuity reserve fund board may adopt rules allowing participants who have reached 70 years of age to withdraw their benefits.
The governing board may provide that members of the annuity reserve fund board be paid one hundred dollars ($100) for each meeting, not to exceed one meeting each month, if they are not being paid by the governing board for any other assignment at the time of the meeting. The compensation shall be a charge against the annuity reserve fund.
(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.
(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.
If two or more districts have been included in one contract between the Board of Administration of the Public Employees’ Retirement System, and the governing board of the districts, as provided in paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) of Section 24810, and if, since that inclusion, two or more of the districts have been combined into a unified district, the unified district, by amendment to the contract, may, notwithstanding Section 20580 of the Government Code, be substituted for the districts so combined, and for all purposes of the contract.
If two districts, one of which is a community college district, have been included in one contract between the Board of Administration of the Public Employees’ Retirement System and the governing board of the districts, as provided in paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) of Section 24810, and thereafter members of the governing board of the community college district are precluded by law from serving as members of the governing body of the other district, the contract shall be deemed a separate contract as to each district. The Board of Administration of the Public Employees’ Retirement System shall determine the accumulated contributions held for or as having been made by each district and its employees, and shall credit the contributions to the respective contracts. Benefits based on all service of an employee to the districts prior to the date upon which employees’ elections to serve the respective districts are effective shall be a liability of the contract of the district employing the person on the effective date. A person retired prior to the effective date shall, for all purposes of this section, be deemed an employee of the district other than the community college district.
(a) The contract executed under Section 24810, and making 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, members and beneficiaries of the Public Employees’ Retirement System, shall be amended to include as members or beneficiaries, teachers and other persons who were employed in a status requisite for membership in the State Teachers’ Retirement System, who ceased to be members of the plan if it was discontinued, or if the plan was not discontinued, who resign instead of retiring and are refunded their accumulated contributions under that plan, or who retire or have retired under the district plan and relinquish or have relinquished their right to allowances from the plan with credit for service rendered in a status in which they would have been eligible for membership in the Public Employees’ Retirement System, if the district or districts by which they were employed had been participating in that system under Part 3 (commencing with Section 20000) of Division 5 of Title 2 of the Government Code, but only if the service qualified for credit under the plan and is not credited under any other retirement system.
(b) The service of a person who ceased to be a member, or resigns or has resigned instead of retiring, or who relinquishes or has relinquished, shall be administered under the contract in exactly the same manner as that applied to service of persons who were retired under the local retirement system at the effective date of that contract, and were made beneficiaries, or who were not retired and were made members of the system on that date. The retirement allowances being received by the relinquishing persons, on account of service that would have been credited under the Public Employees’ Retirement System as stated, shall be adjusted in the same manner that allowances were adjusted under paragraph (6) of subdivision (b) of Section 24810. Any member who is credited with service in accordance with this section, shall pay to the Public Employees’ Retirement System, at times and in the manner fixed by the board of administration of that system, an amount equal to contributions with interest, that the member received as a refund from the plan, and that were based on service credited, plus interest from the date of refund to the date of the payment, at the interest rate in effect under the system at the date of payment. Contributions required of the district or districts shall be determined by proper valuation, and the contributions set forth in the contract shall be adjusted accordingly.
(c) A retirement allowance based on the credited service shall be payable and retirement shall become effective, under the Public Employees’ Retirement System beginning on the first day of the month next following the effective date of this section, in the case of a person who then is retired under the State Teachers’ Retirement System, or otherwise on the later effective date of the member’s retirement under the teachers’ system. The allowance shall be based on the person’s age when the allowance begins, and on the same average salary as that upon which his or her allowance under the State Teachers’ Retirement System, is based.