Public employees' retirement: joint powers agreements: liability.

(1) Existing law establishes various public agency retirement systems, including, among others, the Public Employees' Retirement System, the State Teachers' Retirement System, the Judges' Retirement System II, and various county retirement systems pursuant to the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937. These systems provide defined pension benefits to public employees based on age, service credit, and amount of final compensation. Existing law authorizes a contracting agency, as defined, to terminate a contract under the Public Employees' Retirement System pursuant to specified procedures and authorizes the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System to terminate a contract with a contracting agency under specified circumstances, including if a contracting agency fails to pay any installment of contributions into the Public Employees' Retirement Fund. The Joint Exercise of Powers Act generally authorizes 2 or more public agencies, by agreement, to jointly exercise any common power. Under the act, if an agency is not one or more of the parties to the agreement but is a public entity, commission, or board constituted pursuant to the agreement, the debts, liabilities, and obligations of the agency are the debts, liabilities, and obligations of the parties to the agreement, unless the agreement specifies otherwise. This bill would specify that the parties to the joint powers agreement may not specify otherwise with respect to retirement liabilities of the agency if the agency contracts with a public retirement system, and would eliminate an authorization for a party to a joint powers agreement to separately contract or assume responsibilities for specific debts, liabilities, or obligations of the agency. Existing law authorizes a contracting agency, as defined, to terminate a contract under the Public Employees' Retirement System pursuant to specified procedures and authorizes the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System to terminate a contract with a contracting agency under specified circumstances, including if a contracting agency fails to pay an installment of contributions into the Public Employees' Retirement Fund. This bill would require member agencies of an agency established pursuant to a joint powers agreement that participates in, or contracts with, a public retirement system, prior to filing a notice of termination or upon notice of potential termination by the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System, to mutually agree as to the apportionment of the agency's retirement obligations among themselves, provided that the agreement equals 100% of the retirement liability of the agency. If the member agencies are unable to mutually agree to the apportionment, the bill would require the board to apportion the retirement liability of the agency to each member agency, as specified, and would establish procedures allowing a member agency to challenge the board's determination through the arbitration process. The bill would also provide that if a judgment is rendered against an agency or a party to the agreement for a breach of its obligations to the retirement system, the time within which a claim for injury may be presented or an action commenced against the other party that is subject to the liability determined by the judgment begins to run when the judgment is rendered. The bill would specify that those provisions apply both retroactively to a member agency, or current and former member agency, that has an agreement with the board on or before January 1, 2019, and to new agreements with the board on or after that date. (2) The Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL) creates the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) , which provides a defined benefit to members of the system, based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. PERL vests management and control of PERS in its Board of Administration. Existing law requires the PERS board to enter into a specified agreement with the governing body of a terminating agency, upon request of that agency, to ensure that final compensation is calculated in the same manner as benefits of nonterminating agencies, and that related necessary adjustments in the employer's contribution rate are made and benefits adequately funded, including a lump-sum payment at termination, if agreed to by the terminating agency and the board. Existing law requires a terminating agency to notify the PERS board of its intention to enter into this agreement within a specified period of time. Existing law authorizes the PERS board to choose not to enter into an agreement to terminate if the board determines that it is not in the best interests of PERS. Existing law requires all plan assets and liabilities of a terminating agency to be deposited in a single pooled account, the terminated agency pool subaccount within the Public Employees' Retirement Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. This bill would also require the PERS board to enter into the above-described agreement upon request of a member agency of a terminating agency formed under the Joint Exercise of Powers Act and would provide that the member agencies of the terminating agency are liable to the system for inadequate funding of the benefits pursuant to the agreement. To the extent that the bill would increase any lump-sum payments made by a terminating agency and deposited into a subaccount within the Public Employees' Retirement Fund, the bill would make an appropriation. (3) Existing law makes a terminated agency liable to the system for any deficit in funding for earned benefits, interest, and for reasonable and necessary costs of collection, including attorney's fees. Existing law provides that the board has a lien on the assets of a terminated contracting agency, as specified, and that assets shall also be available to pay actual costs, including attorney's fees necessarily expended for collection on the lien. This bill would extend that liability and lien to all of the parties of a terminating agency that was formed under the Joint Exercise of Powers Act. To the extent that these changes would increase deposits in the Public Employees' Retirement Fund, the bill would make an appropriation. (4) Existing law authorizes the board of PERS to elect not to impose a reduction, or to impose a lesser reduction, on a terminated plan if the board has made all reasonable efforts to collect the amount necessary to fully fund the liabilities of the plan and the board finds that not reducing the benefits, or imposing a lesser reduction, will not impact the actuarial soundness of the terminated agency pool. This bill would eliminate that provision. The bill would require the board, prior to exercising its authority to reduce benefits and to the extent consistent with its fiduciary duties, to consider and exhaust all options and necessary actions, including evaluating whether to bring a civil action against any member agencies to a terminated agency formed by an agreement under the Joint Exercise of Powers Act to compel payment of the terminated public agency's pension obligations. The bill would also specify that the board is entitled to reasonable attorney's fees in addition to other costs. The bill would also set forth related legislative findings.