SECTIONS 75100-75111 - California Statutes

GOVERNMENT CODE

SECTION 75100-75111

75100. There is in the State Treasury a fund known as the Judges'
Retirement Fund. All retirement allowances payable by law to judges
shall be paid out of this fund. The fund shall consist of all cash,
securities, or other assets paid into it in accordance with this
article.

75101. The Controller shall at the end of each month ascertain the
aggregate amount of the annual salaries of judges covered by the
system, and out of the General Fund he or she shall transfer monthly
into the Judges' Retirement Fund a sum equal to 8 percent of
one-twelfth of the aggregate amount of those salaries.

75102. Except as provided in Section 75103.3, the Controller shall
at the end of each month commencing with the salary for the month of
July 1964 deduct 8 percent from the monthly salary, not including the
additional compensation pursuant to Section 68203.1, of each Justice
of the Supreme Court and of the courts of appeal and of the portion
paid by the state of the monthly salary of each judge of the superior
court and shall cause this amount to be paid into the Judges'
Retirement Fund.

75103. Except as provided in Section 75103.3, the auditor of each
county shall deduct 8 percent from the portion paid by a county of
the monthly salary, not including the additional compensation
pursuant to Section 68203.1, of each judge of the superior court and
cause this amount to be paid into the Judges' Retirement Fund.

75103.1. The Legislature reserves the right to increase the rates
of contribution prescribed by Sections 75101 to 75103, inclusive, in
such amounts as it may find appropriate.

75103.2. The Legislature reserves the right to reduce any benefits
applicable to any person who becomes a judge on and after January 1,
1980.

75103.3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the state and
the county may pick up, for the sole purpose of deferring income
taxes thereon, as authorized by Section 414(h)(2) of the Internal
Revenue Code (26 U.S.C.A. Sec. 414(h)(2)) and Section 17501 of the
Revenue and Taxation Code, all of the normal contributions required
to be deducted under Sections 75102 to 75103, inclusive, and paid
into the Judges' Retirement Fund. The payments shall be reported as
employer-paid normal contributions and shall be credited to the judge'
s account.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the authority
of the state or the county to periodically eliminate the pickup by
the state of all of the normal contributions required to be paid by a
judge, as authorized by this section.
This section shall not affect the computation of a judge's
retirement allowance.

75103.5. No county shall directly or indirectly pay from its funds
the member contributions to the Judges' Retirement Fund required by
this article.

75103.6. Calculations of retirement benefits and Extended Service
Incentive Program benefits under this chapter for any judge in the
Voluntary Waiver of Salary Program, as described in paragraph (4) of
subdivision (b) of Section 68106, shall include salary and
contributions that would have been paid had the judge not been in the
program. The state shall pay the costs that result from the
increased benefits and monetary credits.

75104. (a) Except as otherwise provided in subdivisions (b) and
(c), should any judge die, resign, or cease to be a judge prior to
his or her retirement, or die after electing to allow his or her
accumulated contributions to remain in the fund pursuant to Section
75033 but prior to attaining age 65, the amount of his or her
accumulated contribution shall be paid to his or her beneficiary
nominated by written designation duly filed with the Judges'
Retirement System, or to him or her, as the case may be. If an
allowance is paid to a surviving spouse pursuant to this chapter, no
payment shall be made pursuant to this section.
(b) A judge who has filed a declaration of candidacy for election
or reelection to any judicial office may not withdraw his or her
contributions until after the election. If a judge is elected or
reelected to a judicial office, he or she may not withdraw his or her
contributions until he or she has declined to accept the office or
has ceased to hold the office to which he or she has been elected.
(c) A judge who has been appointed, commissioned, or nominated to
any judicial office of this state may not withdraw his or her
contributions until he or she has declined to serve or terminated his
or her service in the latter office.

75104.4. (a) The surviving spouse of any judge who dies on or after
January 1, 1954, but before retirement and after becoming eligible
for retirement pursuant to Section 75025 or 75033 or who dies on or
after January 1, 1954, while serving as judge and has served as a
judge for 30 years, shall receive an allowance equal to one-half of
the amount of the unmodified retirement allowance that would be
payable to the judge were he or she living and retired under this
chapter. The allowance is payable commencing upon the day following
the date of the death of the judge and continuing until the death of
the surviving spouse. If, pursuant to this section, an allowance is
paid to the surviving spouse of a judge, no payment shall be made
pursuant to Section 75104 or 75104.5.
(b) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the payment of
allowances to the surviving spouse of a judge pursuant to this
section, as amended at the 1959 Regular Session of the Legislature,
serves a public purpose in that it promotes the public welfare by
encouraging experienced jurists to continue their service in the
expectation that the Legislature will fairly provide for their
surviving spouses under changing circumstances, as the Legislature is
now doing for spouses of judges who have heretofore died. Continued
service by, and increased efficiency of, judges secure in this
knowledge will more than compensate the state for any increased
expense for allowances to surviving spouses provided by the amendment
enacted at the 1959 session of the Legislature.

75104.5. Upon the death of a judge before retirement there shall be
paid to his or her beneficiary, if he or she has designated one, and
if not, to his or her estate, in addition to any other benefits
provided by this chapter or by Division 4 of the Labor Code, an
amount equal to one-twelfth of the annual compensation of that judge
during the 12 months immediately preceding his or her death,
multiplied by the completed number of years of service as a judge,
but not to exceed one-half of the judge's annual compensation. The
benefit accorded by this section is not payable if the deceased judge'
s spouse survives him or her and is entitled to receive an allowance
for life pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.

75105. The Board of Administration of the Public Employees'
Retirement System shall have authority to invest the money contained
in the Judges' Retirement Fund in the same manner and subject to the
same restrictions as investments of the Public Employees' Retirement
Fund.

75106. The State Treasurer is the custodian of the Judges'
Retirement Fund. At the end of each month the Judges' Retirement
System shall ascertain the written notices of voluntary retirement
and the written certificates of involuntary retirement that have been
filed with the Judges' Retirement System and cause warrants to be
drawn upon the State Treasury in favor of each retired judge for the
amount of the retirement allowance to which he or she is entitled.

75106.5. A retired judge or the surviving spouse of a judge,
entitled to receive an allowance under the provisions of this
chapter, may authorize deductions to be made from the allowance, in
accordance with regulations established for the payment of group
insurance premiums and other premiums provided for under the
provisions of Section 1156 of this code as well as shares or
obligations of any regularly chartered credit union.

75107. Whenever it appears to the Judges' Retirement System that
the money in the Judges' Retirement Fund is insufficient, or is
likely to become insufficient, to pay all retirement allowances
payable by law to retired judges and all other obligations of the
fund which will become payable during the ensuing fiscal year, the
Judges' Retirement System shall report such condition of the fund to
the Legislature at its next regular session, and upon receipt of such
report it shall be the duty and obligation of the Legislature to
appropriate, in the State Budget Act, or otherwise, such sums as may
be necessary to make the Judges' Retirement Fund fully sufficient to
pay all of the obligations of the fund which will become payable
during the ensuing fiscal year.

75108. Notwithstanding any other provision, all expenses of
administration of this article shall be paid by appropriation from
the fund.

75109. If the Judges' Retirement System determines that there has
been an overpayment of contributions or that any amount not required
to be paid under this chapter has been paid by a judge, the Judges'
Retirement System shall refund the amount of the overpayment or
excess payment to the judge. So much money as may be necessary is
hereby appropriated from the Judges' Retirement Fund for the purpose
of making refunds under this section.

75109.1. (a) When there has been a payment of death benefits, a
return of accumulated contributions, a contribution adjustment, or a
deposit of contributions, this system may refrain from collecting an
underpayment of accumulated contributions if the amount to be
collected is two hundred fifty dollars ($250) or less.
(b) Notwithstanding Section 75109, when there has been a payment
of death benefits, a return of accumulated contributions, a
contribution adjustment, or a deposit of contributions, and there is
a balance of fifty dollars ($50) or less remaining posted to a member'
s individual account, or an overpayment of fifty dollars ($50) or
less was received, this system may dispense with a return of
accumulated contributions.
(c) When there is a positive or negative balance of two hundred
fifty dollars ($250) or less remaining posted to a member's
individual account, or the balance exceeds two hundred fifty dollars
($250) but the difference to the monthly allowance unmodified by any
optional settlement is less than five dollars ($5), this system may
dispense with any recalculation of, or other adjustment to, benefit
payments.
(d) The dollar amounts specified in subdivisions (a) and (c) shall
be adjusted in accordance with any changes in the dollar amounts
specified in Section 13943.2.

75109.5. The Judges' Retirement System shall keep in convenient
form such data as is necessary for the actuarial valuation of this
retirement law. As of June 30, 1973, and thereafter at the ends of
periods not to exceed four years, the Judges' Retirement System shall
cause to be made an actuarial investigation into the mortality,
service and compensation experience of members and persons receiving
benefits and an actuarial valuation of the assets and liabilities of
this retirement law. From time to time the Judges' Retirement System
shall determine the rate of interest being earned on the Judges'
Retirement Fund.
The Judges' Retirement System shall cause to be published, as of
the date of the investigation and valuation, a financial statement
showing an actuarial valuation of the assets and liabilities of the
system and a certified statement as to the accumulated cash and
securities in the Judges' Retirement Fund. The Judges' Retirement
System shall include recommendations for financing the retirement law
in the financial statement.

75109.6. When there is insufficient data upon which to establish
mortality rates or other actuarial assumptions required to evaluate
the obligations of the system, the board may adopt appropriate
assumptions which are necessary, upon the advice and recommendation
of the actuary.
All computations, payments, and other acts previously made or done
by the board or its officers and employees which would be valid if
this section has been in effect at the time the computations,
payments, or other acts were made or done are hereby ratified,
confirmed, and validated.

75109.7. The board may assess a county a reasonable amount to cover
costs incurred because of the county's failure to submit reports
within 30 days of the date the reports are due. The payments of the
assessments shall be credited to the Judges' Retirement Fund.
The board may charge interest on the amount of any payment due and
unpaid by a county until payment is received. Interest shall be
charged at a rate approximating the average rate received on moneys
then being invested. The interest charged shall be deemed interest
earnings in the year in which received.

75111. (a) Whenever a person entitled to payment of a member's
contributions or any other benefit fails to claim the payment or
cannot be located or a warrant in payment is canceled pursuant to
Section 17070, the amount owed from the retirement fund shall be
administered in accordance with subdivision (c).
(b) Whenever the amount of a benefit payable by this system cannot
be determined because the recipient cannot be identified or
information necessary to determination of the benefit to be paid
cannot be acertained, the contributions of the member on whose
account the benefit is payable shall be administered in accordance
with subdivision (c).
(c) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the
amounts described in subdivisions (a) and (b) shall be held, or if a
warrant has been drawn the warrant shall be redeposited in the
retirement fund and held for the claimant without accumulation of
interest, and the redeposit shall not operate to reinstate the
membership of the person with respect to whose membership the refund
or benefit was payable in this system. If the proceeds, whether
heretofore or hereafter redeposited, are not claimed within four
years after the date of the redeposit, they shall revert to and
become a part of the fund. Transfer to the fund shall be made as of
the June 30th next following the expiration of the four-year period.
The board may at any time after transfer of proceeds to the fund
upon receipt of proper information satisfactory to it, return the
proceeds to the credit of the claimant, to be administered in the
manner provided under this system.