AB 100: Public Employees' Retirement Fund: state employer contributions: supplemental payment.

(1)The Public Employees Retirement Law (PERL) creates the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) for the purpose of providing pension and benefits to state employees and employees of contracting agencies and prescribes the rights and duties of employers participating in the system. Under PERL, benefits are funded by employer and employee contributions and investment income, which are deposited into the Public Employees Retirement Fund, a continuously appropriated trust fund administered exclusively by the systems board of administration. PERL prescribes methods for the calculation and payment of the state employer contribution for its employees who are PERS members. PERL provides for an annual adjustment of the states contribution in the budget and quarterly appropriations to the Public Employees Retirement Fund from the General Fund and other funds that are responsible for payment of the employer contribution.

Existing law requires the Pooled Money Investment Board to determine whether money on deposit in the State Treasury, exclusive of the General Fund and other specified funds, is not necessary for immediate use and, if so, to determine the amount which is then designated as surplus money. Existing law creates the Surplus Money Investment Fund and requires the Controller to transfer surplus money to it, provided that moneys from a special fund is not to be transferred if that will interfere with carrying out the purposes that the special fund supports. Existing law requires that moneys in the Surplus Money Investment Fund be invested by the Treasurer as part of the Pooled Money Investment Account. Moneys in the Surplus Money Investment Fund are continuously appropriated.

This bill would require the Controller, by a specified deadline, to transfer up to $6,000,000,000 from the Surplus Money Investment Fund and other funds in the Pooled Money Investment Account that accrue interest to the General Fund as a cash loan, the proceeds of which would supplement the states employer contributions for the 201718 fiscal year. The bill would prescribe how the payment is to be applied with respect to specified employee categories. The bill would require the Department of Finance to provide the Controller a schedule of the timing and amounts to be transferred to the Public Employees Retirement Fund. By providing that money in a continuously appropriated fund may be used for a new purpose, and by depositing new moneys into a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require that repayment of the loan principal and the payment of interest be made from the General Fund and other funds and accounts that are required by law to fund the states employer contribution to the Public Employees Retirement Fund and would continuously appropriate funds for this purpose. The bill would require the Department of Finance to devise a tracking mechanism and maintain records of payment by each fund, as specified, and develop a repayment schedule that allocates the amount to each fund after evaluation of its share of costs and its fund availability. The bill also would require the department to ensure each fund pays its proportionate share of the loan principal and interest.

The bill would identify the repayment of principal and payment of interest as an obligation pursuant to specified constitutional provisions. The bill would require the Department of Finance to certify to the Controller, and include in the published fund condition statement of the applicable funds and accounts, the amount determined to be the share of the loan principal and interest due and payable from each fund for the fiscal year and would require the timing and amounts of transfers to be pursuant to calculations provided by the Department of Finance. The bill would calculate interest on outstanding amounts of the loan based on the 2-year constant maturity United States Treasury rate, as specified. The bill would require interest payments to be made quarterly and that the principal and interest be fully repaid by June 30, 2030. The bill would provide that interest payments are Pooled Money Investment Account interest earnings to be apportioned as directed in provisions related to that account, unless modified by a specified agreement, and would make conforming changes in this regard. The bill would require the Controller, upon notification of the Department of Finance, to transfer the amount of the loan principal repayment or interest payment, as applicable, from all funds to the Surplus Money Investment Fund or to the General Fund if repayment or payments are made in advance from the General Fund. If a fund has an insufficient fund balance for the repayment of loan principal or payment of interest, the bill would require the Controller to request the Department of Finance for direction in this regard. The bill would prohibit the implementation of these provisions from obstructing any of the trust purposes of the programs supported by funds on deposit in the Surplus Money Investment Fund and other funds in the Pooled Money Investment Account that accrue interest to the General Fund. The bill would require the Department of Finance, within one month after each calendar quarter is concluded, to submit a report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee identifying funds or accounts with an insufficient fund balance and the direction provided to the Controller on these funds.

The bill additionally would require the Department of Finance, by September 1, 2017, to submit a report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee that describes the actuarial impact on contribution rates for each state employee member category receiving a supplemental payment under the bills provisions.

(2)Existing law requires that interest and other increment derived from investments with moneys from the Surplus Money Investment Fund be deposited in that fund each calendar quarter, on the order of the Controller. Existing law requires the Controller, after deducting reasonable administrative costs, to then apportion, quarterly, interest and other increment derived from investments to specified funds. Existing law requires similar quarterly distributions of interest earned and increment derived from investments in securities, time deposits and loans of money that has been designated as available by the Pooled Money Investment Board, as specified.

This bill would provide that interest earnings from demand accounts are also subject to the provisions described above.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.