Opinion ID: 835784
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Assumed Earnings Rate and Crediting of Accounts

Text: As noted, before the 2003 PERS legislation, the PERS statutes guaranteed all Tier One members that PERB would credit earnings on their regular accounts annually at not less than the assumed earnings rate. The 2003 PERS legislation, however, prohibits the allocation of earnings to Tier One members' regular accounts in any year in which a deficit exists in the gain-loss reserve or the allocation of earnings would cause a deficit in the gain-loss reserve. [22] The amendment does not apply to members who retired before April 1, 2004. For Tier One members who retire on or after that date, the amount in their regular accounts at retirement cannot be less than the amount that those accounts would have reflected if PERB had credited those accounts with earnings at the assumed earnings rate for every year that the accounts existed. If a member's regular account balance is deficient in that respect, then PERS is required to pay the difference out of the gain-loss reserve.