(1) Existing law, the Teachers' Retirement Law, establishes the State Teachers' Retirement System (STRS) and creates the Defined Benefit Program of the State Teachers' Retirement Plan, which provides a defined benefit to members of the program, based on final compensation, creditable service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. STRS is administered by the Teachers' Retirement Board. Existing law creates the Teachers' Retirement Fund, which is continuously appropriated for specified purposes, into which certain moneys are deposited, including employee contributions. Existing law requires employers and employees to make contributions to the system based on the member's creditable compensation. Existing law defines terms for the purposes of STRS. Existing law defines "retired member activities" to mean one or more of specified identified activities within the California public school system and performed by a member retired for service under STRS, as prescribed. This bill, commencing July 1, 2027, would redefine "retired member activities" to mean all service performed within the California public school system by a member retired for service under STRS when the member is employed in specified positions, including as an employee or independent contractor. (2) Existing law defines "sick leave days," "basic sick leave day," and "excess sick leave days" for purposes of STRS. For specified standards concerning service credit that are expressed only in terms of hours, existing law requires the number of hours to be divided by 6 to determine the number of sick days. This bill would delete the above provision on calculating the number of hours. The bill would instead provide that, when determining the number of days, including for those identified standards, one day shall be equivalent to the number of hours of creditable service performed in a day in that position on a full-time basis, but no less than 6 hours. (3) Existing law requires the retirement board and employees of STRS to discharge their duties with respect to the system and the plan solely in the interest of the members and beneficiaries, as specified. This includes by diversifying the investments of the plan so as to minimize the risk of large losses unless under the circumstances it is clearly prudent not to do so. This bill would revise that provision to instead require diversifying the investments of the plan so as to minimize the risk of loss and to maximize the rate of return unless under the circumstances it is clearly not prudent to do so. (4) Existing law requires employers to make available criteria for membership, including optional membership, in a timely manner to all persons employed to perform creditable service subject to coverage by the Defined Benefit Program and to inform part-time and substitute employees, within 30 days of the date of hire, or by March 1, 1995, whichever is later, that they may elect membership in the plan's Defined Benefit Program at any time while employed. This bill would shorten the above-described timeframe for notifying those employees to within 10 working days of the date of hire. (5) Existing law establishes the circumstances in which a member who is eligible and applies for a disability allowance or retirement may apply to receive a service retirement allowance pending the determination of their application for disability. Under those provisions, a member who applies for service retirement in these circumstances does not receive service credit for each day of accumulated or unused leave of absence for illness or injury or for education, as specified. This bill would also provide that a member who applies for retirement under those provisions shall not receive an additional 2 years of service credit granted in specified circumstances. Existing law requires the retirement board to determine a date based on when the system has the capacity to implement specified changes to the above provisions. Existing law further requires the board to post that date on its website no later than January 1, 2026. This bill would delete the above-described language. (6) Existing law provides that a service retirement allowance becomes effective upon any date designated by the member, provided all of specified conditions are met. This includes a requirement that the member file an application for service retirement on a form provided by STRS, executed no earlier than 6 months before the effective date of the member's retirement allowance. This bill would also require the application for service retirement allowance to be received by STRS within 30 days after the date of the member's signature and, if applicable, the spouse's or registered domestic partner's signature. Existing law permits a member who files an application for service retirement to change or cancel their retirement application if certain conditions are met. Existing law requires that the form provided by STRS be received by the system no later than 30 days from the date the member's initial benefit payment for the member's most recent retirement under the Defined Benefit Program is paid by the system. This bill would also require that the form be received by STRS within 30 days after the date of the member's signature and, if applicable, the spouse's or registered domestic partner's signature. The bill would additionally authorize a member to elect to change a retirement annuity from the defined Benefit Supplement Program to a lump-sum payment any time after retirement, subject to using a form provided by the system and meeting other specified requirements. Existing law requires the retirement board to determine a date based on when the system has the capacity to implement specified changes to these provisions and to post the date on its website no later than January 1, 2026. This bill would delete the above-described language. (7) Existing law specifies the amount a member is to receive upon retirement for service following reinstatement, which is based on specified factors. Existing law also specifies circumstances in which a member who reinstates and performs other creditable service is entitled to a service retirement allowance. Existing law also specifies the amount a member is entitled to receive upon retirement for service following a prior disability retirement, as prescribed. This bill would require benefits calculated pursuant to the above provisions to be modified by an option if elected pursuant to that law. (8) Existing law authorizes the retirement board to declare an additional earnings credit to be applied to Defined Benefit Supplement accounts for a plan year, subject to certain considerations by the board. Existing law requires the board to specify, for any plan year for which it declares an additional earnings credit, the amount to be added to members' accounts as a percentage increase. Existing law prohibits additional earnings credit from being added to the balance of credits transferred from a member's Defined Benefit Supplement account to the Annuitant Reserve. This bill would delete the above-described provision prohibiting additional earnings credit from being added to the balance of credits transferred. (9) Existing law requires a member's retirement benefit under the Defined Benefit Supplement Program to be an amount equal to the balance of credits in the member's Defined Benefit Supplement account on the date the retirement benefit becomes payable. Existing law requires the retirement benefit to be a lump-sum payment or an annuity payable in monthly installments, or a combination thereof. This bill would establish specified conditions if a member elects to change their retirement annuity from the Defined Benefit Supplement Program to a lump-sum payment, including providing for termination of payment of the annuity based on the balance of credits and making the election irrevocable. (10) Existing law provides that benefits payable to participants or beneficiaries of STRS are subject to limits imposed by specified provisions of federal law and shall not exceed those limitations. This bill, commencing July 1, 2027, for a STRS participant subject to the California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013, would specify those limits for participants whose service is included in federal social security and those whose service is not subject to social security. The bill would make those provisions subject to annual changes in the consumer price index and other conditions. The bill, commencing July 1, 2027, would also redefine various terms applicable to STRS and would make other related changes to those provisions. (11) Existing law, the Public Employees' Retirement Law, creates the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) , which is administered by the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System. PERS provides defined benefits to its members based on their final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. Existing law establishes the Public Employees' Retirement Fund, which is a trust fund that is appropriated continuously for specified purposes, into which certain moneys are deposited, including employee contributions. Existing law authorizes a member of PERS to elect to receive service credit for certain public service outside the system, including time served employed under specified governmental fellowship programs or as a volunteer in the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps, by making specified contributions to the system. This bill would also authorize a member to receive service credit for public service, not to exceed one year, as a fellow with the California Council on Science and Technology, subject to making the required contributions for that service. Existing law, for purposes of PERS benefits, defines "state safety member" in specified provisions to include officers and employees of certain state departments in listed employment classifications, identified by classification code. This bill would revise those definitions to include officers and employees of the California Correctional Health Care Services in listed classifications. Among other changes, the bill would remove obsolete employment classification references and would update classification terms and codes. (12) Existing law, the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937, 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. Existing law sets forth the membership composition for boards of retirement and boards of investment, as specified. Existing law requires specified members of the retirement board to be active members of the association elected by it. This bill would revise the above provisions to require those board members to be elected by those active members. The bill would also redefine "active member" to specify that it refers to a member in county service, as otherwise defined, and would make related changes to other definitions under that law. Existing law, for the County of Los Angeles, establishes certain legal obligations of the retirement system to its members and their beneficiaries. Existing law specifies that, for purposes of payments into or out of the retirement fund for adjustment of errors or omissions, the period of limitation of actions is 3 years. Existing law also establishes a 10-year period of limitation for cases in which payment is erroneous because of the death of the retired member or beneficiary or because of remarriage or due to fraudulent reports of compensation, as specified. This bill would establish similar obligations applicable for counties other than Los Angeles. The bill would specify that in cases in which payment is erroneous because of the death of the retired member or beneficiary or because of the remarriage of the beneficiary, the period of limitation of actions shall be 10 years. The bill would also provide a 10-year limitation period for cases in which payment has been made as a result of fraudulent reports, as specified. The bill would make various other related and conforming changes to these retirement provisions. (13) By increasing the contributions to continuously appropriated retirement funds, the bill would make an appropriation.
The Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL) creates the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) for the purpose of providing pension benefits to specified public employees and prescribes the rights and duties of members and annuitants of the system. PERL vests management and control of PERS in the Board of Administration. PERL authorizes the board, during the course of an audit, to require each state employer, school employer, including each school district represented by a school employer, and contracting agency to provide information as deemed necessary by the board to determine eligibility for, and the correctness of, retirement benefits, reportable compensation, enrollment in, and reinstatement to this system. PERL requires the board, before initiating an audit, to notify the subject of the audit of the estimated time required to completion. This bill would require the board, before initiating an audit, to list specific information about the audit on its internet website and provide written notice to the affected state employer, school employer, including each school district represented by a school employer, or contracting agency. The bill would specify the distribution of the notice, the final audit report, and a list of members affected by the final audit report, between the board, a state employer, school employer, or contracting agency, and any exclusive representative.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law establishes the Strong Workforce Program to provide funding to career technical education regional consortia made up of community college districts and local educational agencies, as specified. Existing law authorizes a community college district to use the funds apportioned directly to the community college district to provide direct support to students, employers, or both, for paid work-based learning to increase employability and employment, as provided. Existing law requires the chancellor's office to revise, no later than June 30, 2026, policies, regulations, and guidance necessary to provide students, employers, or both, with paid work-based learning opportunities, as provided. This bill would extend the deadline for the chancellor's office to revise the policies, regulations, and guidance described above by one year. The bill would additionally authorize funds apportioned directly to regional consortia to be used to provide direct support to students, employers, or both, for paid work-based learning to increase employability and employment, as specified, and would make conforming changes.
Existing law, the Teachers' Retirement Law, establishes the State Teachers' Retirement System (STRS) and creates the Defined Benefit Program of the State Teachers' Retirement Plan, which provides a defined benefit to members of the program, based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. That law requires the Teachers' Retirement Board to administer STRS and requires employers and employees to make contributions to STRS based on the member's creditable compensation. Existing law, among other things, defines "position subject to membership" to mean prescribed positions at various educational institutions, including, among other positions, a position at a county office of education or school district, not including a charter school, where the position requires the holding of a valid credential, license, or certificate authorized by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing or the State Department of Health Care Services, as prescribed. This bill would expand the above-described definition to also include permitholders. The bill would additionally include as a "position subject to membership" a comparable position at a charter school eligible to receive state apportionment that is performing, directing, coordinating, supervising, or administering one or more prescribed functions, as specified. Existing law requires the board to determine the date that specified provisions related to this definition become operative based on when STRS has the capacity to implement those provisions and to post that date on the internet website of STRS no later than July 1, 2027. This bill would delete that requirement and would, instead, make this definition of "position subject to membership" operative on July 1, 2027. Existing law creates the Teachers' Retirement Fund, which is continuously appropriated for specified purposes, into which certain moneys are deposited, including employee contributions. By expanding the category of positions subject to membership under STRS and affecting the contributions to the retirement fund, the bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law requires every state agency to develop and implement a telecommuting plan as part of its telecommuting program in work areas where telecommuting is identified as being both practical and beneficial to the organization. Existing law requires the Department of General Services to establish a unit for purposes of overseeing telecommuting programs that is required to, among other things, develop and update policy, procedures, and guidelines to assist agencies in the planning and implementation of telecommuting programs. Existing law requires the department to establish criteria for evaluating the state's telecommuting program. Existing law defines "telecommuting" for purposes of those provisions. This bill would revise and recast those provisions. The bill would replace the term "telecommuting" with "telework," as defined. The bill would also require the Department of General Services to establish a telework dashboard that displays the cost-effectiveness and efficiency benefits of state telework programs, including documenting annual savings to the state of reduced office space and operating costs. The bill would additionally require each state agency, every 10 years, to evaluate its telework program to ensure that it aligns with the state agency's unique operational needs to carry out its programmatic missions and to help recruit and retain a qualified workforce. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
(1) Existing law sets forth the Labor Commissioner's duties, including investigating employee complaints and providing for a hearing in any action to recover wages, penalties, and other demands for compensation, as specified. Existing law authorizes the Labor Commissioner, as an alternative to a judgment lien, to create a lien on real property for amounts due under a final order in favor of the employee or employees named in the order with the county recorder of any county in which the employer's real property may be located, at the Labor Commissioner's discretion and depending upon the information the Labor Commissioner obtains concerning the employer's assets. Existing law provides that unless the lien is satisfied or released, the lien continues until 10 years from the date of its creation. This bill would authorize the lien to be renewed at any time prior to its expiration for additional periods of 10 years by recording a renewal of certificate of lien or a copy of a renewed judgment. (2) Existing law precludes an employer or other person or entity who may be liable for a violation of the Labor Code from introducing as evidence in an administrative proceeding contesting a citation or writ proceeding under specified provisions, certain books, documents, or records that are not provided pursuant to a duly served written request by the Labor Commissioner within a specified time period, except as specified. This bill would also preclude an employer or other person or entity from using or relying on the above-described books, documents, or records as evidence, would revise the types of books, documents, or records to which the provisions are applicable, and would make those provisions applicable to a specified administrative proceeding contesting citations for retaliation or discrimination complaints. (3) Existing law defines the term "public works" for purposes of requirements regarding the payment of prevailing wages, the regulation of working hours, and the securing of workers' compensation for public works projects. Existing law requires the Labor Commissioner to issue a civil wage and penalty assessment to a contractor or subcontractor, or both, if, after an investigation, the commissioner determines there has been a willful violation of the laws regulating public works. Existing law authorizes an affected contractor or subcontractor to obtain a review of the civil wage and penalty assessment by requesting a hearing from the office of the Labor Commissioner, after which the director shall issue a written decision, as specified. Existing law authorizes an affected contractor or subcontractor to obtain review of the decision of the director by filing a petition for a writ of mandate to the appropriate superior court, as specified. This bill would preclude a contractor or subcontractor from introducing as evidence, or in any other way using or relying on as evidence, at a hearing or writ of mandate proceeding described in the provisions above, any books, documents, or records that are not provided pursuant to a duly served written request by the Labor Commissioner within the time that the Labor Commissioner requests those books, documents, or records to be produced, except as specified. The bill would require the Labor Commissioner to take into consideration a reasonable request from the contractor or subcontractor for an extension of time for production of books, documents, or records, as specified.
Existing law provides for the establishment of apprenticeship programs in various trades, to be approved by the Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards within the Department of Industrial Relations in any trade in the state or in a city or trade area whenever the apprentice training needs justify the establishment. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2029, the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) and the Department of Human Resources to partner with the bargaining units representing employees of DIR to design and develop an apprenticeship pilot program that addresses DIR's staffing challenges. The bill would require the design, development, and administration of the program to meet specified requirements, including being consistent with the constitutional merit principle applicable to civil service employment. The bill would require the program to meet specified requirements, including that the apprenticeship program classification pay scales be determined by the collective bargaining process. The bill would include related legislative findings and declarations.
Existing law, the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014, entitles an employee who works in California for the same employer for 30 or more days within a year from the commencement of employment to paid sick days. Under existing law, an employee accrues paid sick days at a rate of not less than one hour per every 30 hours worked, subject to certain use, accrual, and yearly carryover limitations. This bill would require specified fire departments to provide a paid leave of absence of up to 26 weeks to an active firefighting member who requests leave because the firefighter is disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition, as provided. The bill would apply to an active firefighting member who has at least 1,250 hours of service with the fire department in the 12-month period before the date on which the paid leave begins and would require the leave to be with full pay, except as specified, at the firefighter's regular rate of pay set forth in a collective bargaining agreement and in accordance with their normal pay schedule. The bill would require all benefits to continue to accrue during the paid leave, as specified, and would require a firefighter returning from the paid leave to be restored to their prior position, as provided. The bill would request a fire department of the University of California to comply with these provisions.
Existing law establishes a low-income housing tax credit program for which the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee (CTCAC) provides procedures and requirements for the allocation, in modified conformity with federal law, of state insurance, personal income, and corporation tax credit amounts to qualified low-income housing projects that have been allocated, or qualify for, a federal low-income housing tax credit, and farmworker housing. Existing law limits the total annual amount of the state low-income housing credit for which a federal low-income housing credit is required to the sum of $70,000,000, as increased by any percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for the preceding calendar year, any unused credit for the preceding calendar years, and the amount of housing credit ceiling returned in the calendar year. Existing law governing the taxation of insurers, the Personal Income Tax Law, and the Corporation Tax Law provided an allocation of $500,000,000 for the 2020 calendar year and, for calendar years beginning in 2021, also provides for an additional amount that may be allocated, up to $500,000,000, to specified low-income housing projects that are new buildings that are federally subsidized, as specified. Existing law provides that this additional amount is only available for allocation pursuant to an authorization in the annual Budget Act. Existing law requires specified regulatory action by CTCAC aimed at increasing production and containing costs, including a scoring system that maximizes the efficient use of public subsidy and benefit created through the low-income housing tax credit program, as specified. This bill would require CTCAC to consider amending the regulatory scoring system to establish a housing type for farmworker housing projects, as specified in the existing CTCAC regulation. The bill would also require the CTCAC to consider using the same point allocations provided for rural set-aside projects in assigning points to farmworker housing based on the proximity of amenities to an eligible farmworker housing project. Existing federal immigration law authorizes employment of nonimmigrant agricultural workers, known as H-2A workers, if specified requirements are met, including that the employer furnish housing, as provided. Existing law generally prohibits providing state funding to an employer or its agent who employs an H-2A worker for the purposes of funding housing and requires an employer that receives state funding for that purpose to reimburse the state by that amount, as specified. Existing law defines "state funding" for this purpose to exclude the allocation of federal or state low-income housing tax credits. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, would include the allocation of state low-income housing tax credits within the definition of "state funding" and would prohibit providing low-income housing tax credits for projects to provide farmworker housing used to comply with the above-described H2-A housing requirement. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 12206, 17058, and 23610.5 of the Revenue and Taxation Code proposed by Senate Bill 1072 to be operative only if this bill and Senate Bill 1072 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law establishes, until July 1, 2027, the Displaced Oil and Gas Worker Pilot Program, to be administered by the Employment Development Department (department) , for the purpose of addressing employment dislocations associated with oil, gas, and related industries. That program requires the department, using funds to be appropriated by the Legislature for purposes of the program, to award grants on a competitive basis to qualified applicants, as specified, for specified eligible activities. This bill would extend the program indefinitely by removing the July 1, 2027, repeal date. The bill would require the department to implement and administer the program only to the extent that funding is appropriated by the Legislature, as specified.
