22940-22944.3
GOVERNMENT CODE
SECTION 22940-22944.3
22940. There is in the State Treasury the Annuitants' Health Care Coverage Fund that is a trust fund and a retirement fund, within the meaning of Section 17 of Article XVI of the California Constitution. Notwithstanding Section 13340, all moneys in the fund are continuously appropriated without regard to fiscal years to the board for expenditure for the prefunding of health care coverage for annuitants pursuant to this part, including administrative costs. The board has sole and exclusive control and power over the administration and investment of the Annuitants' Health Care Coverage Fund and shall make investments pursuant to Part 3 (commencing with Section 20000). 22942. For purposes of this article, the following definitions shall apply: (a) "Annuitant" means any of the following: (1) An annuitant described in Section 22760. (2) A person who retires from employment with an employer described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) and who receives postemployment health care benefits or other postemployment benefits from the prefunding plan provided by that employer. (3) A surviving family member who receives postemployment health care benefits or other postemployment benefits as a beneficiary of a deceased person described in paragraph (2). (b) "Employee" means an employee described in Section 22772. "Employee" also means an officer or employee of an employer described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (c). (c) "Employer" means either of the following: (1) An employer described in Section 22773. (2) An entity described in Section 22920 that has one or more employees and that entity provides postemployment health care benefits or other postemployment benefits to annuitants. 22943. An employer authorized by the board may elect to participate in the prefunding plan established by this article. 22944. The board may, in its discretion and upon terms and conditions set by the board, authorize an employer to participate in the prefunding plan established by this article. The governing body of a participating employer shall enter into a contract with the board, setting forth the terms and conditions of that employer's participation in the prefunding plan, including, but not limited to, funding, expenditures, and actuarial, accounting, reporting, and investment considerations. 22944.2. (a) A contract entered into between an employer and the board pursuant to Section 22944 shall not create, change, or vest the obligations of an employer or the board that were created under any other contract, law, ordinance, regulation, or similar actions to provide benefits for employees or annuitants of a participating employer. (b) A contract between an employer and the board entered into pursuant to Section 22944, in and of itself, shall not create, change, or vest an obligation for either party to the contract to provide a specific level of postemployment health care benefits or other postemployment benefits to employees or annuitants of a participating employer. (c) A contract between an employer and the board entered into pursuant to Section 22944, in and of itself, shall not preclude or in any way affect the authority of the employer to create, change, or vest the specific postemployment health care benefits or other postemployment benefits that the employer may choose to provide to its employees or annuitants. 22944.3. (a) Any amount that would otherwise be used to permanently increase compensation pursuant to Section 19827, effective on July 1, 2009, and on July 1, 2010, shall instead be used to permanently prefund postemployment health care benefits for patrol members. The amount used to prefund benefits relative to any increases under the survey methodology effective July 1, 2010, shall not exceed 2 percent. The state shall take credit for these prefunding contributions in the survey methodology established in Section 19827 in the same manner as it would for an increase to the base salary for patrol members. (b) Patrol members shall contribute an additional 0.5 percent of base pay toward prefunding retiree health benefit obligations effective on the first day of the pay period following the effective date of the act adding this section and the ratification of the addendum by the members of State Bargaining Unit 5. This contribution shall not reduce the base salary of patrol members under the survey methodology established by Section 19827. (c) Effective July 1, 2012, the state shall contribute toward prefunding retiree health benefits, on a prospective basis, an amount at least equal to the combined contribution rate established pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b). These contributions may be used in the survey methodology established by Section 19827 if mutually agreed in a memorandum of understanding. (d) Contributions paid pursuant to this section shall be used exclusively for the cost of providing postemployment health care to eligible enrolled patrol member annuitants and their eligible enrolled dependents, beneficiaries, and survivors. (e) Contributions paid pursuant to this section shall not be refundable under any circumstances to a patrol member or his or her beneficiary or survivor. (f) Any amount used to prefund postemployment health care for patrol members pursuant to subdivision (a) shall not be included in any calculation for benefits using final compensation. (g) If the provisions of this section are in conflict with the provisions of a memorandum of understanding reached pursuant to Section 3517.5, the memorandum of understanding shall be controlling without further legislative action, except that if those provisions of a memorandum of understanding require the expenditure of funds, the provisions shall not become effective unless approved by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act. (h) For purposes of this section, "patrol member" has the same meaning as in Section 20390. This section shall not apply to an employee of a county.