County employees' retirement: optional settlements revision.

The County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 permits a member or retired member of a retirement system established pursuant to its provisions, prior to the time that the first payment of any retirement allowance is made, to elect certain optional settlements, which operate to reduce the allowance payable to the member through his or her life and provide for a subsequent payment to another party or parties, including his or her spouse. Existing law authorizes a person to revoke a beneficiary nomination at his or her pleasure and nominate a different beneficiary, except for a nomination made under 3 specified optional settlements. This bill, upon adoption by a county, would permit a retired member to revise the designated beneficiary for those specified optional settlements if, at retirement, the retired member was unmarried or had been married less than one year, the retired member had retired before the county adopted other specified optional retirement settlements, and the application to revise includes the signature of the designated beneficiary of the optional settlement or a written declaration, as specified. The bill would provide a civil penalty for a person who knowingly provides false information in the declaration, to be brought at the option of a public prosecutor. The bill would also require, if the designated beneficiary of the optional settlement is a spouse or domestic partner of the member, that the application for revision evidence that person's agreement to the revision. The bill would require, pursuant to this revision, the retired member's allowance to remain the same as provided by the optional settlement, adjusted for any cost-of-living increases that have been added to the retirement allowance. The bill would provide that the retirement system has no obligation to locate or otherwise contact retired members who may qualify for a revision. The bill would provide that any actions taken, as described above, do not excuse the obligation of a member to provide a continuing benefit to a former spouse pursuant to court order.