Public employees' retirement benefits.

The California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA) generally requires a public retirement system, as defined, to modify its pension plan or plans to comply with the act, as specified. Among other things, PEPRA prohibits a public employer offering a defined benefit pension plan from exceeding specified retirement formulas for new members and prohibits an enhancement of a public employee's retirement formula or benefit adopted after January 1, 2013, from applying to service performed prior to the operative date of the enhancement. PEPRA defines terms for those purposes, including defining "new member" to include an individual who becomes a member of any public retirement system for the first time on or after January 1, 2013, and who was not a member of any other public retirement system prior to that date; an individual who becomes a member of a public retirement system for the first time on or after January 1, 2013, and who was a member of another public retirement system prior to that date, but who was not subject to reciprocity under specified law; or an individual who was an active member in a retirement system and who, after a break in service of more than 6 months, returned to active membership in that system with a new employer. This bill would specifically exclude from the definition of "new member" a judge, as defined in specified existing law, elected to office before January 1, 2013.