Retirement.

The Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL) provides for the preservation of the purchasing power of benefits through a system of adjustments in benefits based on changes in living costs. Existing law also establishes provisions to ensure the federal tax-exempt status of the system and to preserve the deferred treatment of federal income tax on public employer contributions to public employee pensions. Existing federal law limits the amount a defined benefit plan may pay a participant annually, and requires that this limitation be adjusted annually by regulation to account for increases in the cost of living. PERL provides that a member's annual retirement benefits, adjusted to the actuarial equivalent of a straight-life annuity if payable in a form other than a straight-life annuity or a qualified joint and survivor annuity, and determined without regard to any employee contributions or rollover contributions, otherwise payable to the member under PERL and under any other defined benefit plan maintained by the employer that is subject to that federal limit, shall not exceed, in the aggregate, the federal dollar limit, as specified. This bill would prohibit a member who receives benefits based on credited service with multiple employers from exceeding the limitations set forth in those provisions with regard to his or her annual retirement benefits.