Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement.

Existing law, the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 (CERL), authorizes counties to establish retirement systems pursuant to its provisions in order to provide pension benefits to county, city, and district employees and their beneficiaries. CERL provides for a defined retirement benefit based upon credited service, final compensation, and age at retirement subject to specified formulas relating to membership classification.

• Existing law provides that, for a member who is subject to PEPRA, a specified definition of “final compensation” contained in that law applies for all or any portion of their membership in the county retirement system.  Existing law provides that when determining final compensation for a member who does not have 3 consecutive years of earned pensionable compensation due to an absence, the compensation for any absence is based on the pensionable compensation of the position held by the member immediately prior to the absence.  This bill revises the above provision concerning PEPRA to specify that the compensation for any absence is based on the pensionable compensation of the position held by the member at the beginning of the absence. (Gov’t Code sec. 31462.05.) 
• Existing law prohibits a person who has been retired under CERL from being employed in any capacity thereafter by a county or district of the retirement system unless the person has first been reinstated from retirement or is authorized under CERL or PEPRA.  Existing law provides that if an employer fails to enroll, solely for the administrative recordkeeping purposes of the system, a retired member employed in any capacity, without reinstatement, within 30 days of the effective date of hire, the board may assess the employer a fee of $200 per retired member per month until the retired member is enrolled in those administrative aspects of the system.  This bill instead provides that if an employer fails to report the above-described information, in a format determined by the system, and within the above-described timeframe, the board may assess the fee of $200 per retired member per month until the information is reported.  (Gov’t Code sec. 31680.9.) 
• Existing law also authorizes the board to assess the employer a fee of $200 per retired member per month if an employer fails to report the pay rate and number of hours worked by a retired member, without reinstatement, within 30 days following the last day of the pay period in which the retired member worked.  This bill deletes the 30-day period described above and replaces it with “at periods determined by the system.”  (Gov’t Code sec. 31680.9.) 

This bill was approved by the Governor on October 1, 2025.

Status: Enacted. Effective 1/1/2026.