Judges' Retirement System II: federal law limits: adjustments.

Existing law establishes the Judges' Retirement System and the Judges' Retirement System II, both of which are administered by the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System, which provide pension and other benefits to judges who are members. Existing law establishes the Legislators' Retirement System, also administered by the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System, which provides pension and other benefits to those members of the Legislature and specified state and statutory officers who have elected to become members. Existing California constitutional provisions prohibit the provision of retirement benefits to members of the Legislature and, on and after January 1, 2013, the Legislators' Retirement System was closed generally to new members. Existing federal law limits the amount that a public employee defined benefit plan may pay a participant annually and requires that this limitation be adjusted by regulation to account for increases in the cost of living. Existing law incorporates federal limits into the law that defines and regulates the above-described retirement systems. This bill would prohibit the amount payable to a member or a judge under the Legislators' Retirement System, the Judges' Retirement System, and the Judges' Retirement System II, including specified adjustments, from exceeding the federal limits on annual defined benefit plan payments and would incorporate specified provisions of federal law by reference. The bill would also require the retirement allowance of a judge who is a member of the Judges' Retirement System or the Judges Retirement System II, or a person who is a member of the Legislators' Retirement System, to be increased to reflect adjustments to payment limits prescribed by federal law, provided that the member's allowance determined without regard to that law equals or exceeds the applicable limit as indexed. The bill, for judges in the Judges Retirement System II, would also apply this requirement to a monetary payments annuity that is payable to a judge.