Teachers' Retirement Law.

(1) Existing law, the Teachers' Retirement Law, establishes the Defined Benefit Program of the State Teachers' Retirement Plan, which provides a defined benefit to members of the program. The State Teachers' Retirement System (STRS) based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. The STRS is administered by the Teachers' Retirement Board. Existing law establishes the Supplemental Benefit Maintenance Account, among other provisions, for the purpose of restoring the purchasing power of allowances. Existing law establishes the Defined Benefit Supplement Program, which provides supplemental retirement, disability, and other benefits, payable either in a lump-sum payment, an annuity, or both, to members of the State Teachers' Retirement Plan. Existing law establishes the Cash Balance Benefit Program, administered by the Teachers' Retirement Board, as a separate benefit program within the State Teachers' Retirement Plan in order to provide a retirement plan for persons employed to perform creditable service for less than 50% of full-time service. Existing law provides that a retired person who is receiving a pension benefit from a public retirement system is prohibited from employment with a public employer participating in the same retirement system unless he or she meets specified requirements and subjects that employment to specified limitations. Existing law provides a definition of retired member activities for purposes of the defined benefit program and the cash balance plan described above. Existing law requires that certain school entities retaining the services of a retired member inform that member of specified earning limitations. This bill would provide that activities of an employee performing an assignment of 24 months or less are not included in the definition of retired member activities. This bill would require that a retired member be informed of employment restrictions and specifically of certain potential forfeitures of service credit. (2) Existing law establishes the effective date for a STRS member's service retirement and requires an employer to make a certification within 30 days of the effective date of the member's service retirement regarding accumulated sick leave and leaves of absence. This bill would provide that the time by which the employer is to provide the information described above may be measured with reference to the date application for retirement is received by the system's headquarters office. The bill would also provide a definition for "system's headquarters office" and make conforming changes. (3) Existing law authorizes the Teacher's Retirement Board to permit payment of a disability allowance or a disability retirement allowance upon application by authorized parties if the application is properly submitted within specified periods. This bill would establish a period for application based on the member's performance of creditable service within the 4 months previous to application. (4) Existing law prescribes various conditions pursuant to which a member of STRS who is eligible and applies for a disability allowance or a disability retirement allowance can receive that allowance. This bill would make various changes regarding the effective date of an application for disability benefits with regard to when an application has been canceled or denied and the effective date of a termination of a disability retirement allowance. The bill would require an application for disability retirement to contain an election of an unmodified allowance or an optional modification, as specified. The bill would also require a member who cancels his or her retirement application to return the gross amount of all payments for the canceled retirement benefit to the system's headquarters office, as specified, and would provide that the member is liable for any adverse tax consequences that may result from these actions. The bill would establish the date to be used for the calculation of postretirement benefits under specified circumstances. (5) Existing law requires, if the death of a member occurs while the member is receiving an annuity under the Defined Benefit Supplement Program, the final benefit be paid in accordance with the terms of the annuity that the member elected. Existing law prescribes requirements and procedures for the purpose of making payments of STRS benefits. This bill would specify the method of paying the annuity if certain institutions or entities are the beneficiary of the annuity. The bill would permit STRS to designate electronic delivery as the default method of delivery of specified benefit information, and permit affected parties to provide for delivery by mail, as specified. (6) Existing law permits the Teachers' Retirement Board to establish deferred compensation plans under Section 457 of the Internal Revenue Code that employers may offer their employees. Existing law requires an employer that adopts a deferred compensation plan to enter into a contract for administration of the plan, one condition of which is that the initial contractual arrangement be for a term of 5 years. This bill would eliminate that requirement. (7) This bill would make various technical corrections and conforming amendments to the Teachers' Retirement Law.