County Employees Retirement Law of 1937: employees.

The operative prohibition in Section 31566(a) now applies only to counties and districts, removing cities from the entities directly subject to the ban on excluding employees from CERL retirement systems.

The statewide concern finding in Section 2 was updated to reference cities and counties (including charter cities and charter counties), though the operative provision no longer directly binds cities.

The prohibition was reframed from banning contract amendments that exclude some but not all employees to a direct ban on excluding any employee, group, or classification from membership. This is broader because it is no longer limited to the mechanism of contract amendment.

A new subsection declares that Section 31566 is declaratory of existing law, meaning the Legislature asserts this prohibition already exists under current law rather than creating a new obligation.

Removed the 'Beginning on or after January 1, 2026' effective date language from Section 31566(b). The prohibition on excluding employees from county retirement systems now takes effect immediately upon the bill becoming law rather than being delayed to January 1, 2026.

Legislative counsel's digest updated to remove the reference to the January 1, 2026 effective date and corrected a garbled phrase about charter cities and counties to read 'all cities and counties, including charter cities and charter counties.'

The prohibition now applies to cities AND counties that have officers and employees enrolled in a CERL retirement system, not just cities or districts that contract with one. This brings county employers under the rule for the first time.

New Section 2 includes legislative findings that ensuring consistency in county employee retirement system membership is a matter of statewide concern, not a municipal affair. This explicitly overrides charter city autonomy under Article XI, Section 5 of the California Constitution, making the law binding on all cities including charter cities.

The exclusion ban was broadened from prohibiting exclusion of 'some, but not all, employees' to prohibiting exclusion of 'any employee, group, or classification.' This closes a potential loophole where an entire job classification could be excluded rather than individual employees.

New subsection (b) defines 'excludable officers and employees' as those with temporary, seasonal, intermittent, or part-time-only tenures as determined by the retirement board, or those excluded under Sections 31552 or 31553. This creates a clear carve-out for workers who are not full permanent members.

The Senate version's amendment to Section 31560 (clarifying that safety members remain safety members only while performing active law enforcement, fire suppression, or lifeguard duties) was removed in its entirety. The digest described this as a nonsubstantive change.

The bill was assigned Chapter 749 and the Governor's approval date of October 13, 2025 was recorded in the header.

Formatting was restructured from enrolled bill layout (with Senate/Assembly passage lines and blank signature fields) to the standard chaptered format with 'STATE OF CALIFORNIA AUTHENTICATED ELECTRONIC LEGAL MATERIAL' header.

New Section 31566 added to the Government Code. Beginning on or after January 1, 2026, a city or district that contracts with a retirement system under CERL is prohibited from amending their contract in a manner that provides for the exclusion of some, but not all, employees.

Gender-neutral language changes in Section 31560: 'his' changed to 'their' and 'he' changed to 'they' when referring to a safety member's position and status.