2023 California Code › Harbors and Navigation Code - HNC › DIVISION 5 - PILOTS FOR MONTEREY BAY AND THE BAYS OF SAN FRANCISCO, SAN PABLO, AND SUISUN › CHAPTER 3 - Pension Plan › Section 1163.

1163. (a) (1) (A) Each retired pilot and inland pilot, who has completed 25 full years of service as a pilot or inland pilot, or both, shall receive, as a target monthly pension, an amount that is initially equal to 46 percent of an amount that is an average of the highest three of the last five years of audited annual average net income per pilot, prior to the pilot’s or inland pilot’s retirement, divided by 12, which initial target monthly pension amount shall be subject to periodic adjustment pursuant to Section 1167. Pilots or inland pilots with other than 25 full years of service as a pilot or inland pilot, or both, shall receive a monthly pension in an amount that is determined by multiplying the above calculated target monthly pension by a fraction, the numerator of which shall be the number of full years of service that the pilot or inland pilot has rendered and the denominator of which shall be 25 years, which initial monthly pension amount shall be subject to periodic adjustment pursuant to Section 1167.
(B) Each disabled pilot or inland pilot shall receive as an initial target monthly pension an amount that is based on 46 percent of the greater of the following, which amount shall be subject to periodic adjustment pursuant to Section 1167:
(i) An amount that is the average of the highest three of the last five years of audited annual average net income per pilot divided by 12 and multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which shall be the number of full years of service that the pilot or inland pilot has rendered and the denominator of which shall be 25 years.
(ii) The audited annual average net income per pilot, for the last year prior to the pilot’s or inland pilot’s disability, divided by 12 and multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which shall be the number of full years of service that the pilot or inland pilot has rendered and the denominator of which shall be 25 years.
(C) Each pilot who retired before January 1, 1985, shall receive as an initial target monthly pension an amount that is one hundred seventy-eight dollars ($178) multiplied by the number of full years of service he or she performed as a pilot licensed under this division, which amount shall be subject to periodic adjustment pursuant to Section 1167.
(D) Each pilot who retired on or after January 1, 1985, or each inland pilot who retired after January 1, 1993, shall receive as an initial target monthly pension an amount that is the greater of the following, which amount shall be subject to periodic adjustment pursuant to Section 1167:
(i) An amount that is calculated by multiplying one hundred seventy-eight dollars ($178) by the number of full years of service the pilot or inland pilot performed as a pilot or inland pilot licensed under this division.
(ii) An amount that is 46 percent of the average of the highest three of the last five years of audited annual average net income per pilot, prior to the pilot’s or inland pilot’s retirement, divided by 12 and multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which is the pilot’s or inland pilot’s actual number of full years of service and the denominator of which is 25 years.
(2) A pilot or inland pilot who retires or becomes disabled shall not begin to receive a pension until the beginning of the benefit payment period next following the date on which the pilot or inland pilot retires or becomes disabled.
(3) A pilot or inland pilot shall not receive any benefits pursuant to the pension plan in any benefit payment period unless the pilot’s or inland pilot’s resignation as an active pilot or inland pilot specifying a proposed date of retirement was submitted, in writing, to the board, prior to November if the pilot’s or inland pilot’s retirement is to be effective the first day of the following January, prior to February if the pilot’s or inland pilot’s retirement is to be effective the first day of the following April, prior to May if the pilot’s or inland pilot’s retirement is to be effective the first day of the following July, or prior to August if the pilot’s or inland pilot’s retirement is to be effective the first day of the following October. The pilot’s or inland pilot’s resignation as an active pilot or inland pilot shall become effective on either January 1, April 1, July 1, or October 1, as specified in the written resignation.
(4) If a retired or disabled pilot or inland pilot who is receiving a pension dies without a surviving spouse, the pilot’s or inland pilot’s successor in interest shall receive the monthly pension for the remainder of the benefit payment period within which the death occurs, after which time the monthly pension shall cease.
(b) (1) The surviving spouse of a deceased pilot who is eligible for a pension pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (e) of Section 1164 and the surviving spouse of a deceased inland pilot who is eligible for a pension pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (e) of Section 1164 shall each receive, as a monthly pension, three-fourths of the amount that the deceased pilot or inland pilot would have received as a monthly pension pursuant to this section had the pilot or inland pilot lived, calculated as if the deceased pilot or inland pilot had been disabled pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a).
(2) If a retired or disabled pilot or inland pilot who was receiving a pension dies, the surviving spouse shall continue to receive the full amount of the monthly pension to which the deceased pilot or inland pilot was entitled for the balance of the benefit payment period within which the death occurs, after which the surviving spouse shall receive the amount specified in paragraph (1).
(3) If a surviving spouse receiving a pension dies, the surviving spouse’s successor in interest shall receive the monthly pension for the remainder of the benefit payment period within which the death occurs, after which time the monthly pension shall cease.
(c) For the purpose of the computations described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a), six months or more of service by a pilot or inland pilot shall be considered a full year.
(d) Except as provided otherwise in this section and paragraph (4) of subdivision (e) of Section 1164, monthly pension amounts payable pursuant to this section to retired pilots and inland pilots and to their surviving spouses are payable for the life of that retired pilot, inland pilot, or spouse.
(e) To determine an inland pilot’s full years of service under this chapter, any periods of service that an inland pilot has performed as a pilot shall be added to any service time performed as an inland pilot after January 1, 1987.
(f) In calculating the benefits of a retired or disabled pilot who was issued an original pilot’s license in 1985 and who was not thereafter issued an inland pilot’s license, or in calculating the benefits of the widow of such a pilot who is deceased, the number of years of service used in the calculation shall be the greater of the following:
(1) The actual number of full years of service the pilot has rendered.
(2) Ten years.
(Amended by Stats. 1999, Ch. 261, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2000.)