Little Hoover Commission Reviews Proposal to Move PERB to LWDA

The Little Hoover Commission met over three days this week to discuss Governor Brown’s proposal to reorganize several state departments and agencies. Of interest to County Human Resources and Labor Relations professionals is the proposal to move the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) under the umbrella of the Labor and Workforce and Development Agency (LWDA). PERB currently operates independent of any state agency. Agency Secretary Marty Morgenstern testified before the Commission in support of the Governor’s proposal.

Mr. Morgenstern emphasized that the move is administrative only and that LWDA will have no power or authority to change or influence the actions or decisions of PERB. There are other quasi-judicial boards under LWDA, including the Workers’ Compensation Appeals and Agricultural Labor Relations Boards, for which the independence of the boards are, like PERB, set in statute. The stated goal of the move is to increase administrative efficiencies within the state’s agency structure.

A representative of the California Federation of Teachers indicated opposition to the move due to concerns that the independence of PERB and the timeliness of case processing will be jeopardized and that there may be conflicts with other Boards under LWDA. An additional witness from the California Teachers Association expressed similar concerns.
The Commission is expected to take action on the Governor’s reorganization plan at its May meeting.

Assembly Committee Refers Pension Bills to Conference Committee

The Assembly Public Employees’ Retirement and Social Security (P.E.R. & S.S.) Committee held a special hearing yesterday to refer several bills to interim study to be considered by the Conference Committee on Public Employee Benefits (Conference Committee). The action was a recommendation by P.E.R. & S.S. Committee Chair Warren Furutani in an effort to limit the bills being heard in the P.E.R & S.S. Committee to those not within the purview of the Conference Committee. The bills will be considered once the Conference Committee issues its report (expected in August).

Counties will recall that AB 340, by Assembly Member Warren Furutani, was amended last September to state legislative intent to convene a conference committee for the purpose of crafting comprehensive pension reform legislation. The Committee is made up of Assembly Members Michael Allen, Warren Furutani (Chair) and Beth Gaines and Senators Gloria Negrete-McLeod, Joseph Simitian and Mimi Walters. 

The following bills were referred to interim study:

AB 1633 (Wagner) – Watch
As introduced January 9, 2012

AB 1633, by Assembly Member Don Wagner, would cap the retirement benefit paid to new members of any public retirement system to members of any public retirement system first hired on or after January 1, 2013 at $100,000 for members whose service is not included in Social Security and $80,000 for new members whose service is included in Social Security. The bill would additionally require each retirement system to adjust these amounts annually for inflation using the Consumer Price Index.

AB 1639 (Hill) – Pending
As introduced January 12, 2012

AB 1639, by Assembly Member Jerry Hill, would require all public retirement systems in California to adhere to the federal compensation limit under Internal Revenue Code Section 401(a) (17) when calculating retirement benefits for members who first join the retirement system on or after January 1, 2013. The bill also prohibits a public employer from making contributions to any qualified public retirement plan based on any portion of compensation that exceeds that amount. 

AB 1649 (Smyth) – Watch
As amended March 29, 2012

AB 1649, by Assembly Member Cameron Smyth, would require a public employee who is convicted of any violent felony, serious felony, or a sex offense arising out of his or her official duties to forfeit retirement benefits attributable to service performed on and after the earliest date of the commission of the felony. This bill would apply to every public employee who is part of a public retirement system, regardless of when (s)he was hired and would require any contributions to the public retirement system made by the employee on or after the earliest date of commission of the felony to be returned, without interest, to the employee unless otherwise ordered by the court or determined by the pension administrator.

AB 1649 would also require both the employer and the employee to notify the public retirement system within 60 days of the conviction by a trial court and authorizes the public retirement system to assess an employer a reasonable amount to cover the cost of audit, adjustment, or correction if it is determined that the employer failed to notify the public retirement system within 60 days of the felony conviction.

AB 1653 (Cook) – Watch
As amended April 9, 2012

AB 1653, by Assembly Member Paul Cook, would require a public employee who is an at-will employee of an elected public officer and who is convicted of a felony arising out of his or her official duties, to forfeit all public pension benefits. The bill specifies that only the rights and benefits earned on or after January 1, 2013 would be forfeited and any contributions made by the public employee for the forfeited service to be returned to the employee without interest.

AB 1874 (Mansoor) – Watch
As introduced February 22, 2012

AB 1874, by Assembly Member Alan Mansoor, would prohibit legislators first elected on or after January 1, 2013 from becoming members of the Legislators’ Retirement System (LRS). Additionally, AB 1874 prohibits all Constitutional Officers, the Insurance Commissioner, and legislative statutory officers, first elected or appointed on or after January 1, 2013, from becoming LRS members (these individuals would become members of CalPERS) and defines “elective officer” to include individuals elected by the members of the Legislature, a city or county appointive officer with a fixed term, state or contracting agency officers elected by the people and those elected to city council or a county board of supervisors. 

AB 2224 (Smyth) – Pending
As introduced February 24, 2012

AB 2224, by Assembly Member Cameron Smyth, would make the statutory changes necessary to implement Governor Brown’s 12-Point plan, which has been summarized here. 

AB 2429 (Hagman) – Oppose
As introduced February 24, 2012

AB 2429, by Assembly Member Curt Hagman, would prohibit a person appointed or publicly elected to a local public office of any kind that is less than full-time (defined in the bill as a minimum of five days and 40 hours per week) on or after January 1, 2013, from becoming a member of any public retirement system, acquiring any retirement right or benefit, or from receiving health benefits for serving in that elective office. 

CSAC has taken an oppose position on AB 2429 because determinations of part-time status for Boards of Supervisors should be made locally.