CALIFORNIA STATUTES AND CODES
SECTIONS 24600-24620
EDUCATION CODE
SECTION 24600-24620
24600. (a) A retirement allowance under this part begins to accrue
on the effective date of the member's retirement and ceases on the
earlier of the day of the member's death or the day on which the
retirement allowance is terminated for a reason other than the member'
s death.
(b) A retirement allowance payable to an option beneficiary under
this part begins to accrue on the day following the day of the
retired member's death and ceases on the day of the option
beneficiary's death.
(c) A disability allowance under this part begins to accrue on the
effective date of the member's disability allowance and ceases on
the earlier of the day of the member's death or the day on which the
disability allowance is terminated for a reason other than the member'
s death.
(d) A family allowance under this part begins to accrue on the day
following the day of the member's death and ceases on the day of the
event that terminates eligibility for the allowance.
(e) A survivor benefit allowance payable to a surviving spouse
under this part pursuant to Chapter 23 (commencing with Section
23850) begins to accrue on the day the member would have attained 60
years of age or on the day following the day of the member's death,
as elected by the surviving spouse, and ceases on the day of the
surviving spouse's death.
(f) A child's portion of an allowance under this part begins to
accrue on the effective date of that allowance and ceases on the
earlier of either the termination of the child's eligibility or the
termination of the allowance.
(g) Supplemental payments issued under this part pursuant to
Sections 24412 and 24415 to retired members, disabled members, and
beneficiaries shall begin to accrue pursuant to Sections 24412 and
24415 and shall cease to accrue as of the termination dates specified
in subdivisions (a) to (f), inclusive, of this section.
(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of this part or other law,
distributions payable under the plan with respect to the Defined
Benefit Program and the Defined Benefit Supplement Program shall be
made in accordance with applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 and related regulations. The required beginning date of
benefit payments that represent the entire interest of the member in
the plan with respect to the Defined Benefit Program and the Defined
Benefit Supplement Program shall be either:
(1) In the case of a refund of contributions, as described in
Chapter 18 (commencing with Section 23100) of this part and
distribution of an amount equal to the balance of credits in a member'
s Defined Benefit Supplement account, as described in Chapter 38
(commencing with Section 25000) of this part, not later than April 1
of the calendar year following the later of (A) the calendar year in
which the member attains the age at which the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986 requires a distribution of benefits or (B) the calendar year
in which the member terminates employment within the meaning of
subdivision (i).
(2) In the case of a retirement allowance, as defined in Section
22166, not later than April 1 of the calendar year following the
later of (A) the calendar year in which the member attains the age at
which the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 requires a distribution of
benefits or (B) the calendar year in which the member terminates
employment within the meaning of subdivision (i), to continue over
the life of the member or the lives of the member and the member's
option beneficiary, or over the life expectancy of the member or the
life expectancy of the member and the member's option beneficiary.
(i) For purposes of subdivision (h), the phrase "terminates
employment" means the later of:
(1) The date the member ceases to perform creditable service
subject to coverage under this plan.
(2) The date the member ceases employment in a position subject to
coverage under another public retirement system in this state if the
compensation earnable while a member of the other system may be
considered in the determination of final compensation pursuant to
Section 22134, 22135, or 22136.
24601. Whenever the system determines that payments in the correct
amount due cannot be made when payable because required information
or documentation is not yet on file in the system, payment of
estimated allowances based on preliminary information in the
possession of the system may be made, the system may present claims
therefore, and the Controller shall draw warrants in payment of the
claims.
24602. The board may establish a special account and procedures to
pay, on an emergency basis, allowances, death payments and up to 75
percent of the return of the balance of the accumulated retirement
contributions as a result of termination of employment or death.
Disbursements under the special account shall be by checks issued by
the system and subject to the auditing requirements of the
Controller. Payments under the special account shall be deducted from
allowances, death benefits, and payment of accumulated retirement
contributions, otherwise due.
24603. If any estimated allowances under this part are more or less
than the correct amount due, the difference between the correct
amount and the estimated allowance shall be adjusted in subsequent
payments or the Controller may state an account with the retired
member, disabled member, or beneficiary, pursuant to Section 12419 of
the Government Code.
24604. (a) A member, nonmember spouse, or beneficiary under this
part shall specify whether monthly benefit payments are to be
disbursed by: (1) direct deposit (electronic funds transfer); (2)
direct mail to a financial or other institution; or (3) mailing to a
payment address provided by the member, nonmember spouse, or
beneficiary.
(b) A member, nonmember spouse, or beneficiary under this part to
whom a lump-sum payment or benefit is to be disbursed, and who is
receiving payment for an ongoing benefit by electronic funds
transfer, may have the lump-sum payment disbursed by electronic funds
transfer to the financial institution on file for payment of the
ongoing benefit.
(c) A member, nonmember spouse, or beneficiary under this part
who is not receiving payment for an ongoing benefit by electronic
funds transfer and to whom a lump-sum payment or benefit is to be
disbursed shall specify the address to which the payment shall be
mailed.
(d) (1) The system shall make available an electronic copy of the
benefit payment information to any member, nonmember spouse, or
beneficiary under this part who receives a monthly benefit payment.
(2) The board shall notify the member, nonmember spouse, or
beneficiary that he or she has the right to request that a copy of
the benefit payment information be mailed. The board shall send a
copy of the benefit payment information if the system has received a
written request from that person.
(3) The system shall send a copy of the benefit payment
information to any member, nonmember spouse, or beneficiary under
this part when there is an adjustment in the allowance, or a change
in any amount deducted from the allowance.
(e) A payment disbursed as specified by the member, nonmember
spouse, or beneficiary under this part shall fully discharge the
board, system, and plan from any claim resulting from actions taken
under this section.
24605. Upon receipt of proof satisfactory to the board, that a
warrant drawn in payment of a retirement allowance or in payment of
any other account due from the plan under this part, has been lost or
that payment transmitted electronically cannot be credited to an
account, the Controller upon the request of the board shall issue a
replacement warrant in payment of the same amount, without requiring
a bond from the payee, and any loss incurred in connection therewith
shall be charged against the fund from which the payment was derived.
24606. (a) If any warrant drawn in payment of contributions or
accumulated contributions or benefits under this plan remains
unclaimed or the legal claimant cannot be found, the board shall
redeposit the proceeds of the warrant in the retirement fund, and
shall hold the proceeds for the legal claimant without further
accumulation of interest. The redeposit does not operate to establish
the membership of the claimant in this plan.
(b) Subdivision (a) applies to warrants drawn and canceled by the
Controller pursuant to Section 17070 of the Government Code, except
that, upon notice of cancellation, the proceeds revert to and become
a part of the retirement fund, and shall be applied to meet the
liabilities of the retirement fund.
(c) The board may at any time after reversion of proceeds, as
provided above to the retirement fund, and upon receipt of proper
information satisfactory to it, return from the retirement fund an
amount equal to those proceeds to the credit of the legal claimant.
24607. Any warrant in an amount less than two thousand dollars
($2,000) paid by the system under this part, for the month in which a
retired member or disabled member dies, shall not be invalidated by
the system, except upon the request of the beneficiary of the retired
member or disabled member.
24608. (a) Persons entitled to receive allowances under the plan
under this part may authorize deductions to be made from those
allowances, in accordance with procedures established by the board.
(b) The board shall determine the additional cost involved in
making deductions under this section, and may require the public
agency, association, insurance carrier, or unit thereof to pay the
amount of the additional cost to the board for deposit in the
retirement fund to the credit of the Defined Benefit Program.
24609. Any allowance payable under this part to a retired member,
that has accrued and remains unpaid at the time of his or her death,
shall be paid to either of the following:
(a) The option beneficiary entitled to payment in accordance with
an option elected by the member.
(b) The beneficiary entitled to receive the lump-sum death benefit
provided upon death of a retired member if the member has not
elected an option.
24610. Any disability allowance under this part that has accrued
and remains unpaid to a disabled member at the time of death shall be
paid to the person entitled to receive a family allowance under this
part or, if none, to the beneficiary entitled to receive the death
payment under this part.
24611. Part 5 (commencing with Section 220) of Division 2 of the
Probate Code, when applicable, shall govern the distribution of the
proceeds of any death benefit payable under this part. In applying
Part 5 (commencing with Section 220) of Division 2 of the Probate
Code with respect to proceeds payable to a beneficiary, membership
shall be considered as having the same status as an insurance policy
issued after December 31, 1984.
24612. (a) If any person entitled to a benefit from the plan under
this part is a minor who has no guardian of his or her estate, the
benefit, not to exceed two thousand dollars ($2,000), may be paid to
the person entitled to the custody of the minor to hold for the
minor, upon the written statement, duly acknowledged and verified, of
the person that the total estate of the minor does not exceed two
thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) in value.
(b) The payment shall constitute full discharge of any and all
liabilities of the board, system, and plan.
(c) The person shall account to the minor for the money when the
minor reaches the age of majority.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a natural
parent or an adoptive parent having custody of the minor shall not
be required to establish a guardianship for the purpose of collecting
a survivor benefit, family benefit, or death benefit under this
part.
24613. (a) Payment pursuant to the board's determination in good
faith of the existence, identity, or other facts relating to
entitlement of persons under this part constitutes a complete
discharge and release of the board, system, and plan from liability
for that payment.
(b) Notwithstanding Sections 751 and 1100 of the Family Code
relating to community property interests, whenever payment or refund
is made by this system to a member, former member, or beneficiary of
a member pursuant to this part, the payment shall fully discharge the
board, system, and plan from all adverse claims thereto unless,
before payment is made, a written notice of adverse claim is received
at the system's headquarters office, as established pursuant to
Section 22375.
24614. (a) This section shall only be applicable to a district
retirement salary plan in a unified district presently having an
average daily attendance of less than 200,000 pupils and which was
discontinued by the governing board of the district.
(b) The district shall continue to pay monthly to teachers and
other persons who were retired prior to the date of the
discontinuance an amount equal to the amount by which the retirement
allowance to which any of the retired teachers or other persons were
entitled under the district plan exceeds the increase in the teacher'
s or other person's retirement allowance under this part resulting
from the discontinuance. The arrangement under which those amounts
are paid by the district shall not be considered to be a local
retirement system for the purposes of this part, nor shall those
amounts be taken into account in the calculation of retirement
allowances under this part.
(c) The reserve fund created by the district from the assets
delivered to it by the discontinued district retirement plan under
subdivision (c) of former Section 14690 prior to its repeal is
continued in existence and the amounts payable under subdivision (b)
of this section shall be paid from that reserve fund.
24615. (a) If the board determines that contributions are due the
system under this part from a retired member, disabled member, or a
person who has died, and the person is unable to pay the amount due,
the board may withhold all or part of subsequent payments due the
retired member, disabled member, or survivor, until the amounts
withheld equal the contributions due plus regular interest to the
date of payment. Total contributions plus regular interest due shall
be recovered by the system within 18 months.
(b) Any payment of contributions that a member or beneficiary is
required by law to make to the system shall be paid upon receipt of
written notice from the system. Payment may be made either in a lump
sum or installments, as permitted by the system. Payment of
contributions due the system not discovered or unpaid, for whatever
reason, prior to the time of retirement, disability, or death shall
be paid prior to granting an allowance or benefit to the member or
beneficiary unless, in the opinion of the board, the making of the
payment prior to receipt of an allowance or benefit would impose an
undue hardship, in which case payment may be made by the system
withholding not more than 18 consecutive monthly installments from
payments due from the system. Those installments may not be less than
twenty-five dollars ($25) per month, except for the last
installment, which may be less than twenty-five dollars ($25).
24616. Any overpayment made to or on behalf of any member, former
member, or beneficiary, including but not limited to contributions,
interest, benefits of any kind, federal or state tax, or insurance
premiums, shall be deducted from any subsequent benefit that may be
payable under either the Defined Benefit Program, the Defined Benefit
Supplement Program, or the Cash Balance Benefit Program, except as
provided in Section 24616.5. These deductions shall be permitted
concurrently with any suit for restitution, and recovery of
overpayment by adjustment shall reduce by the amount of the recovery
the extent of liability for restitution.
24616.5. If an employer reports erroneous information, the system
shall calculate the actuarial present value of the expected payments
from the member, the former member, or beneficiary pursuant to
Sections 22008 and 24617. The employer shall pay the difference
between the total amount of the overpayment and the calculation of
the actuarial present value of expected payments.
24617. (a) To recover an amount overpaid under this part or Part 14
(commencing with Section 26000), the corrected monthly allowance
payable under the Defined Benefit Program or benefit payable under
the Defined Benefit Supplement Program or the Cash Balance Benefit
Program may be reduced by no more than 5 percent if the overpayment
was due to error by the system, the county superintendent of schools,
a school district, or a community college district, and by no more
than 15 percent if the error was due to inaccurate information or
nonsubmission of information by the recipient of the allowance or
benefit.
(b) This section does not apply to the collection of overpayments
due to fraud or intentional misrepresentation of facts by the
recipient of the allowance or benefit.
24618. Losses or gains resulting from overpayment or underpayment
of contributions or other amounts under this part within the limits
set by the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board
for automatic writeoff, and losses or gains in greater amounts
specifically approved for writeoffs by the California Victim
Compensation and Government Claims Board, shall be debited or
credited, as the case may be, to the appropriate reserve in the
retirement fund.
24619. The system shall annually report to the board the following
information:
(a) The amount of underpayment made to recipients under this part.
(b) The amount to be recovered because of overpayments and the
number of overpayments under this part.
(c) The actions taken by the board and the system to reduce the
number and amount of overpayments and underpayments under this part.
24620. (a) The special reserve resulting from the discontinuance of
a district retirement salary plan as provided in former Section
14690 prior to its repeal, and a part of which is used annually in
the interest of the employees of the district at the discretion of
the governing board, is continued in existence and shall continue to
be used first as provided in this section.
(b) The district in which the district retirement plan was
discontinued and that credited each teacher or other person employed
by the district at the time of discontinuance, in a status requisite
for membership in this plan, with an amount that bears the same ratio
to the portion of the assets delivered to the district pursuant to
former subdivision (c) of Section 14690 prior to its repeal, that
remained after the creation of the reserve fund for payments under
former subdivision (d) of Section 14690 prior to its repeal, as
required by former subdivision (e) of Section 14690 prior to its
repeal, as the accumulated contributions credited to the member in
his or her individual contribution account under the discontinued
retirement plan at the time of discontinuance, bore to the total
accumulated contributions so credited to all such teachers and
persons, but this credit to any active member shall not exceed the
amount of the member's accumulated contributions so credited at that
time. The amount so credited to any person shall continue to be
increased by interest at rates approved from time to time by the
governing board of the district. The accumulated amount at the date
upon which the person retires for service or disability under the
system shall continue to be applied according to rates and tables
adopted by the governing board and then in effect, to provide an
annuity payable to the person throughout the balance of his or her
life or a lump-sum payment of the total account balance on the date
of retirement at the option of the governing board. If the person
dies prior to retirement, the amount, with credited interest, shall
be paid to his or her designated beneficiary, as it appears on the
records of the district, if any, otherwise to the member's estate. If
the person ceases to be employed by the district for any reason
other than death, retirement, or attainment of the age at which his
or her classification as a permanent employee ceases, he or she shall
no longer be credited with or have any right to the accumulated
amount, but the amount shall revert to and belong to the district.
The arrangement under which annuities and death benefits are paid by
a district under this subdivision shall not be considered to be a
local retirement system for the purposes of this part, nor shall
those payments be taken into account in the calculation of retirement
allowances under this plan.
(c) The reserve fund created by the district from the assets
delivered to it pursuant to subdivision (c) of former Section 14690
prior to its repeal is continued in existence and in the amount equal
in amount to the total contributions credited to employees of the
district, under former subdivision (b) of former Section 14691 prior
to its repeal, and the annuities and death benefits payable under
subdivision (b) of former Section 14691 prior to its repeal shall
continue to be paid from this reserve fund. If the reserve fund as
first created proves insufficient to make the payments required under
subdivision (b) of former Section 14691, the district shall continue
to make any additions to the reserve fund necessary to provide for
those payments.
(d) (1) In addition to any other investments authorized by law for
the investment of those funds, the funds of any specialized reserve
or reserve fund established pursuant to former Section 14690 or
former Section 14691 prior to their repeal may continue to be
invested as authorized by Section 31595 of the Government Code for
the investment of the funds of a county employees' retirement system.
(2) The governing board may employ investment advisers to advise
it on these investments and the fees for these services may be paid
from the special reserve or reserve funds.
(e) The governing board may make additional cost-of-living
adjustments in the payments to persons who retired prior to January
1, 1953.