Public employees' retirement: collective bargaining: transit workers: transportation.

The California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA) , among other things, establishes new retirement formulas for employees first employed on or after January 1, 2013, which a public employer offering a defined benefit pension plan is prohibited from exceeding, requires those employees to contribute a specified percentage of the normal cost of the defined benefit plan, and prohibits public employers from paying an employee's share of retirement contributions. PEPRA excepts certain retirement systems from its provisions. This bill would except from PEPRA public employees whose collective bargaining rights are subject to specified provisions of federal law until a specified federal district court decision on a certification by the United States Secretary of Labor, or his or her designee, or until January 1, 2015, whichever is sooner. The bill would also provide that if a federal district court upholds the determination of the United States Secretary of Labor, or his or her designee, that application of PEPRA to those public employees precludes certification, those employees are excepted from PEPRA. The bill would authorize the Director of Finance to authorize a loan of up to $26,000,000 from the Public Transportation Account in the State Transportation Fund to be made to local mass transit providers in amounts equal to federal transportation grants not received due to noncertification from the federal Department of Labor, as specified. By providing for loans in the manner specified, this bill would make an appropriation. The bill would prescribe requirements regarding the disbursement of these funds. The bill would require a local transit provider to repay the loan based on the occurrence of certain contingencies or by January 1, 2019. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.