Public employees' retirement: postretirement death benefits.

The Public Employees' Retirement Law requires that, upon the death of any state or school member after retirement and while receiving a retirement allowance, the sum of $2,000 be paid to the member's designated beneficiary, except as specified. Existing law requires, when a school employer elects by contract, that the amount paid to the beneficiary be $3,000, $4,000, or $5,000, whichever amount is designated in its contract. This bill would require that the amount paid be $4,000 for a death occurring from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2013, inclusive, and would increase that amount each year by $500 until April 1, 2017, at which point the amount would be $6,000, and would be adjusted annually, as specified. Until January 1, 2015, when the amount would reach $5,000, the bill would instead allow a school employer to elect by contract to pay the beneficiary $5,000.