Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires the board to appoint a chief executive officer, known as the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state, under the administration of community college district governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction at the community college campuses they operate.

Existing law, the Teachers Retirement Law, establishes the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) and creates the Defined Benefit Program of the State Teachers Retirement Plan, which provides a defined benefit to members of the program, based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. STRS is administered by the Teachers Retirement Board. Existing law also creates the Cash Balance Benefit Program, which is administered by the board, to provide a retirement plan for the benefit of participating employees who provide creditable service for less than 50% of full time.

Existing federal law requires public employers, which includes community college employers, to provide their employees with either social security coverage or membership in a qualified retirement plan. Existing law requires employers subject to STRS, including community college employers, to make available criteria for membership, including optional membership, in a timely manner to persons employed to provide creditable service subject to coverage by the Defined Benefit Program and to inform part-time and substitute employees that they may elect membership in the Defined Benefit Program at any time while employed, as specified.

This bill would require STRS, in consultation with the Public Employees Retirement System, on or before July 1, 2027, to provide on its internet website links to specified information regarding the Defined Benefit Program, the Cash Balance Benefit Program, and social security. The bill would require that information to include, among other things, the differences between membership and contributions made to the Defined Benefit Program and the Cash Balance Benefit Program and covered by social security. The bill would require a community college district, commencing July 1, 2027, to provide the information to a newly hired person who is classified as a temporary employee, as provided. The bill would require a person classified as a temporary employee, as specified, who is employed by a community college district to perform credible service to be provided with the option of membership in the Defined Benefit Program, the Cash Balance Benefit Program, if offered, or social security, as provided. To the extent that the bill would impose new duties on a community college district, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires the board to appoint a chief executive officer, known as the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state, under the administration of community college district governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction at the community college campuses they operate.

Existing law, the Teachers Retirement Law, establishes the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) and creates the Defined Benefit Program of the State Teachers Retirement Plan, which provides a defined benefit to members of the program, based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. STRS is administered by the Teachers Retirement Board. Existing law also creates the Cash Balance Benefit Program, which is administered by the board, to provide a retirement plan for the benefit of participating employees who provide creditable service for less than 50% of full time.

Existing federal law requires public employers, which includes community college employers, to provide their employees with either social security coverage or membership in a qualified retirement plan. Existing law requires employers subject to STRS, including community college employers, to make available criteria for membership, including optional membership, in a timely manner to persons employed to provide creditable service subject to coverage by the Defined Benefit Program and to inform part-time and substitute employees that they may elect membership in the Defined Benefit Program at any time while employed, as specified.

This bill would require STRS, in consultation with the Public Employees Retirement System, on or before July 1, 2027, to provide on its internet website links to specified information regarding the Defined Benefit Program, the Cash Balance Benefit Program, and social security. The bill would require that information to include, among other things, the differences between membership and contributions made to the Defined Benefit Program and the Cash Balance Benefit Program and covered by social security. The bill would require a community college district, commencing July 1, 2027, to provide the information to a newly hired person who is classified as a temporary employee, as provided. The bill would require a person classified as a temporary employee, as specified, who is employed by a community college district to perform credible service to be provided with the option of membership in the Defined Benefit Program, the Cash Balance Benefit Program, if offered, or social security, as provided. To the extent that the bill would impose new duties on a community college district, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires the board to appoint a chief executive officer, known as the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state, under the administration of community college district governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction at the community college campuses they operate.

Existing law, the Teachers Retirement Law, establishes the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) and creates the Defined Benefit Program of the State Teachers Retirement Plan, which provides a defined benefit to members of the program, based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. STRS is administered by the Teachers Retirement Board. Existing law also creates the Cash Balance Benefit Program, which is administered by the board, to provide a retirement plan for the benefit of participating employees who provide creditable service for less than 50% of full time.

Existing federal law requires public employers, which includes community college employers, to provide their employees with either social security coverage or membership in a qualified retirement plan. Existing law requires employers subject to STRS, including community college employers, to make available criteria for membership, including optional membership, in a timely manner to persons employed to provide creditable service subject to coverage by the Defined Benefit Program and to inform part-time and substitute employees that they may elect membership in the Defined Benefit Program at any time while employed, as specified.

This bill would require STRS and STRS, in consultation with the Public Employees Retirement System, on or before July 1, 2027, to develop and post provide on their internet websites certain informational materials regarding its internet website links to specified information regarding the Defined Benefit Program, the Cash Balance Benefit Program, and social security. The bill would require the informational materials that information to include, among other things, the differences between membership and contributions made to these retirement options. the Defined Benefit Program and the Cash Balance Benefit Program and covered by social security. The bill would require a community college district, commencing July 1, 2027, to provide those informational materials the information to a newly hired person who is classified as a temporary employee, as provided. The bill would require a person classified as a temporary employee, as specified, who is employed by a community college district to perform credible service to be provided with the option of membership in the Defined Benefit Program, the Cash Balance Benefit Program, if offered, or social security, as provided. To the extent that the bill would impose new duties on a community college district, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires the board to appoint a chief executive officer, known as the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state, under the administration of community college district governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction at the community college campuses they operate.

Existing law, the Teachers Retirement Law, establishes the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) and creates the Defined Benefit Program of the State Teachers Retirement Plan, which provides a defined benefit to members of the program, based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. STRS is administered by the Teachers Retirement Board. Existing law also creates the Cash Balance Benefit Program, which is administered by the board, to provide a retirement plan for the benefit of participating employees who provide creditable service for less than 50% of full time.

Existing federal law requires public employers, which includes community college employers, to provide their employees with either social security coverage or membership in a qualified retirement plan. Existing law requires employers subject to STRS, including community college employers, to make available criteria for membership, including optional membership, in a timely manner to persons employed to provide creditable service subject to coverage by the Defined Benefit Program and to inform part-time and substitute employees that they may elect membership in the Defined Benefit Program at any time while employed, as specified.

This bill would require the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to develop, as specified, STRS and the Public Employees Retirement System, on or before July 1, 2027, to develop and post on their internet websites certain informational materials regarding the Defined Benefit Program, the Cash Balance Benefit Program, and social security. The bill would require the informational materials to include, among other things, the differences between membership and contributions made to these retirement options. The bill would require a community college district, commencing July 1, 2027, to provide those informational materials to a newly hired person who is classified as a temporary employee, as provided. The bill would require a person classified as a temporary employee, as specified, who is employed by a community college district to perform credible service to be provided with the option of membership in the Defined Benefit Program, the Cash Balance Benefit Program, if offered, or social security, as provided. To the extent that the bill would impose new duties on a community college district, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires the board to appoint a chief executive officer, known as the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state, under the administration of community college district governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction at the community college campuses they operate.

Existing law, the Teachers Retirement Law, establishes the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) and creates the Defined Benefit Program of the State Teachers Retirement Plan, which provides a defined benefit to members of the program, based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. STRS is administered by the Teachers Retirement Board. Existing law also creates the Cash Balance Benefit Program, which is administered by the board, to provide a retirement plan for the benefit of participating employees who provide creditable service for less than 50% of full time.

Existing federal law requires public employers, which includes community college employers, to provide their employees with either social security coverage or membership in a qualified retirement plan. Existing law requires employers subject to STRS, including community college employers, to make available criteria for membership, including optional membership, in a timely manner to persons employed to provide creditable service subject to coverage by the Defined Benefit Program and to inform part-time and substitute employees that they may elect membership in the Defined Benefit Program at any time while employed, as specified.

This bill would require the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to develop, as specified, informational materials regarding the Defined Benefit Program, the Cash Balance Benefit Program, and social security. The bill would require the informational materials to include, among other things, the differences between membership and contributions made to these retirement options. The bill would require a person classified as a temporary employee, as specified, who is employed by a community college district to perform credible service to be provided with the option of membership in the Defined Benefit Program, the Cash Balance Benefit Program, if offered, or social security, as provided. To the extent that the bill would impose new duties on a community college district, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS

CSA1 Bill Id:AB 2417

Author:(Zbur)

As Amended Ver:August 13, 2026

Majority vote

SUMMARY

Requires a community college district to provide temporary faculty employees the option to participate in social security, the State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) Defined Benefit (DB) program or Cash Balance (CB) Benefit program, if offered, or the Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) DB program, and the California Community College Chancellor's Office (CCCCO) to work with CalSTRS and CalPERS to develop specified information materials on retirement programs opportunities for California Community College temporary faculty.

Senate Amendments

1. Remove the requirement that CalSTRS and CalPERS develop information and post it on their respective websites by a date certain.
2. Clarify that a community college district must provide information provided by CalSTRS to a newly hired person who is classified as a temporary employee.
3. Make related technical adjustments for these purposes.

COMMENTS

The Unique Employment Patterns of Community College Faculty. Unlike many K-12 educators, temporary community college faculty often enter teaching after careers in other industries and may have accumulated retirement benefits through Social Security or other retirement systems prior to joining a community college district. Because temporary faculty frequently work part-time, teach at multiple institutions, or enter the profession later in their careers, retirement decisions may have different implications than they do for employees who spend an entire career in public education. This bill seeks to ensure employees receive information that allows them to evaluate those options based on their individual circumstances.

Builds Upon Ongoing Legislative Efforts to Improve Conditions for Temporary Faculty. Temporary faculty comprise a significant majority of the community college instructional workforce, representing nearly 70 percent of academic employees statewide. In recent years, the Legislature has invested substantial resources toward addressing long-standing concerns regarding pay parity, office hours compensation, health care access, and other employment conditions for temporary faculty. This bill takes a narrower approach by focusing on retirement literacy and informed decision-making rather than expanding compensation or benefits directly.

Statewide Consistency in Information Provided to Employees. Although existing law provides retirement election rights and notification requirements for eligible employees, the author and sponsors contend that retirement options are not always presented consistently across districts and that employees may not fully understand the long-term implications of available choices. By requiring CalSTRS and CalPERS to develop standardized informational materials and requiring districts to distribute those materials to newly hired temporary faculty, this bill seeks to establish a common baseline of information regardless of where an employee is hired.

Please see the various policy committee analyses for a full discussion of this bill.

According to the Author

"Part-time community college employees sometime come to the education field after careers in other industries where they earned retirement credits in Social Security. They may be unaware of the potential personal implications of selecting the most common retirement options in the public education field: CalSTRS' DB or CB Benefit plans or an alternative option, instead of Social Security. Those plans are excellent for employees who start their careers early and stay continuously in the education field. They may not provide much benefit for people who come later in their careers and may prevent those people from earning the 40 credits necessary to qualify for Social Security, since positions covered by those plans are typically excluded from Social Security. Since coverage under those plans means neither the employer nor the employee pay into Social Security, it may be tempting for the employee to elect those plans instead of Social Security and for the employer not to promote Social Security as an option. Thus, the employee who is unaware of the complicated interaction of these different retirement options may end up with very little retirement benefit and not enough credits to qualify for Social Security."

Arguments in Support

Among other things, the California Federation of Teachers states, "[n]ew part-time faculty may not be aware of the long-term requirements, benefits, and drawbacks of the retirement benefits they can choose between. In many instances, these workers have accumulated decades of service credit in social security, and may not work as a part-time faculty member long enough so that starting over in a new pension system makes financial sense. [This bill] brings clarity, ensuring part-timers both have the option of Social Security and a basic understanding of what options they have for retirement planning. The bill accomplished the latter by asking the CCCCO to work with CalSTRS to develop informational materials that cover the financial retirement options available to part-time college faculty. This way, newly employed educators will have the most relevant information at hand so they can make the best-informed decision for their own retirement security."

Arguments in Opposition

None.

FISCAL COMMENTS

According to the Senate Committee on Appropriations, this bill would result in the following:

1. The CCCCO would incur minor and absorbable costs to develop the required informational materials.
2. Minor and absorbable costs to CalSTRS and CalPERS.
3. Increase state pension contributions to the extent that additional part-time community college employees enroll in a state retirement system as a result of the bill. The annual fiscal impact is unknown, but could exceed $50,000 annually (General Fund).

VOTES:

ASM PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT AND RETIREMENT: 6-0-1

YES: McKinnor, Lackey, Boerner, Garcia, Nguyen, Michelle Rodriguez

ABS, ABST OR NV: Alanis

ASM HIGHER EDUCATION: 10-0-0

YES: Fong, DeMaio, Boerner, Macedo, Jackson, Muratsuchi, Patel, Ramos, Sharp-Collins, Tangipa

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 14-0-1

YES: Wicks, Hoover, Aguiar-Curry, Caloza, Dixon, Fong, Mark González, Krell, Pacheco, Pellerin, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Ta, Tangipa

ABS, ABST OR NV: Arambula

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0-4

YES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Ahrens, Alanis, Alvarez, Ávila Farías, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Caloza, Carrillo, Castillo, Connolly, Davies, DeMaio, Dixon, Elhawary, Ellis, Flora, Fong, Gallagher, Garcia, Gipson, Jeff Gonzalez, Mark González, Hadwick, Haney, Harabedian, Hart, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Johnson, Kalra, Krell, Lackey, Lee, Lowenthal, Macedo, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Patel, Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Ransom, Michelle Rodriguez, Rogers, Blanca Rubio, Sanchez, Schiavo, Schultz, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Soria, Stefani, Ta, Tangipa, Valencia, Wallis, Ward, Wicks, Wilson, Zbur, Rivas

ABS, ABST OR NV: Arambula, Chen, Gabriel, Celeste Rodriguez

UPDATED

VERSION: August 13, 2026

CONSULTANT: Michael Bolden / P. E. & R. / (916) 319-3957 FN: 0004236

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: AB 2417

Author: Zbur (D), et al.

Amended: 8/13/26 in Senate

Vote: 21

SENATE LABOR, PUB. EMP. & RET. COMMITTEE: 5-0, 6/17/26

AYES: Smallwood-Cuevas, Strickland, Cortese, Durazo, Laird

SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 7-0, 7/1/26

AYES: Pérez, Ochoa Bogh, Cabaldon, Choi, Cortese, Gonzalez, Reyes

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/13/26

AYES: Cervantes, Seyarto, Cabaldon, Dahle, Grayson, Richardson, Wahab

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 5/22/26 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: State Teachers’ Retirement System: community colleges: part-time faculty

SOURCE: California Federation of Teachers

DIGEST:

This bill requires a community college district to provide temporary faculty employees the option to participate in social security, the CalSTRS defined benefit program, the CalSTRS Cash Balance Benefit program, if offered, or the CalPERS defined benefit program, and requires the CCC Chancellor’s Office to work with CalSTRS to develop specified information materials on retirement programs opportunities for the CCC temporary faculty.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Requires public employers, under federal law, to provide their employees with either social security coverage or membership in a qualified retirement plan, as specified. (Public Law 101-508, § 11335)
2. Provides, under state law, defined benefit pension plans for public employers that meet the federal requirement of a qualified retirement plan, including, among others, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) defined benefit plan, the California State Teachers Retirement Plan (CalSTRS) defined benefit (DB), and CalSTRS Cash Balance (CB) Benefit Program plan. (Government Code § 20000 et seq.; Education Code § 22000 et seq.; and Education Code § 26001 et seq.)
3. Requires a district to classify specified employees (i.e., those employed to teach for not more than 67 percent of the regular full-time weekly assignment) as a temporary employee. (Education Code § 87482.5(a))
4. Provides CalSTRS’ CB plan for, among others, temporary community college district employees excluded from CalSTRS’ DB plan, as specified. (Education Code § 26000 et seq.)
5. Requires the district to provide specified information about the CB plan to eligible temporary employees within 10 days of the employee’s first day of employment. (Education Code § 26300)

This bill:

1. Requires a community college district to provide a temporary faculty employee the option of membership in CalSTRS’ Defined Benefit (DB) Program, its Cash Balance Benefit Program if offered by the district, or social security.
2. Clarifies that the district may also offer an alternative retirement option in addition to those required by this bill.
3. Requires CalSTRS, in consultation with CalPERS, to post on its internet website on or before July 1, 2027, links to information regarding the differences between membership and contributions made to the Defined Benefit Program and the Cash Balance Benefit Program and under coverage by the federal Social Security Act; examples covering the amount of time required to vest in benefits offered by the Defined Benefit Program and the Cash Balance Benefit Program and under coverage by the federal Social Security Act; and examples of the impact of having credits provided under coverage by the federal Social Security Act.
4. Requires the district to provide, commencing July 1, 2027, informational materials maintained by CalSTRS, as specified, to a newly hired person classified as temporary faculty.

Background

According to CalSTRS:

“Members and participants of CalSTRS’ DB and CB Benefit programs do not contribute to SSA for their CalSTRS-covered employment. Under current law, to retain an exemption from mandatory SSA coverage, a state must offer a retirement plan with commensurate benefits to SSA, known as a FICA-replacement plan. CalSTRS’ DB and CB Benefit programs both serve as suitable FICA-replacement plans.”

“Generally, an individual contributing to SSA can earn up to four credits a year and must earn minimum of 40 credits to be eligible for an SSA retirement benefit. A person’s benefit is calculated based on their highest 35 years of SSA-covered earnings. For those with less than 35 years of earnings, SSA fills the remaining years with zeros, which lowers the average benefit. This means that working a career with some covered and some non-covered employment could dilute an individual’s average earnings, resulting in a lower SSA benefit. The Social Security Administration estimates SSA benefits replace about 40% of annual pre-retirement earnings for career SSA contributors. By comparison, a career educator in CalSTRS’ DB Program receives an average DB benefit replacing between 50% and 60% of salary. Still, an individual whose primary career was in non-SSA-covered employment might choose to contribute to SSA on a part-time basis to earn sufficient credits to qualify for a modest SSA benefit.”

“Prior to 2025, CalSTRS members seeking to claim an SSA benefit were subject to two provisions that could negatively impact their benefit—the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). The WEP reduced SSA benefits for individuals who also received a pension for non-SSA covered work via a modified formula for calculating an individual’s own SSA benefit. The GPO similarly reduced spousal and survivor SSA benefits payable to those receiving a government pension, such as through CalSTRS. On January 5, 2025, President Biden signed the Social Security Fairness Act, which repealed these two provisions.”

Need for this bill? According to the author, part-time community college employees sometime come to the education field after careers in other industries where they earned retirement credits in Social Security. They may be unaware of the potential personal implications of selecting the most common retirement options in the public education field: CalSTRS’ Defined Benefit or Cash Balance plans or an alternative option, instead of Social Security. Those plans are excellent for employees who start their careers early and stay continuously in the education field. They may not provide much benefit for people who come later in their careers and may prevent those people from earning the 40 credits necessary to qualify for Social Security, since positions covered by those plans are typically excluded from Social Security. Since coverage under those plans means neither the employer nor the employee pay into Social Security, it may be tempting for the employee to elect those plans instead of Social Security and for the employer not to promote Social Security as an option. Thus, the employee who is unaware of the complicated interaction of these different retirement options may end up with very little retirement benefit and not enough credits to qualify for Social Security.

Related/Prior Legislation

H.R. 82 (Graves-LA, 2025) repealed the federal Windfall Elimination Provision and Governmental Pension Offset provisions for Social Security benefit recipients.

AB 3221 (Gallegos, Chapter 383, Statutes of 1996) among other changes combining existing

retirement election provisions, added employer notification requirements to Education Code

section 22509.

AB 1298 (Ducheny, Chapter 592, Statutes of 1995) established the CalSTRS Cash Balance Plan, including the requirement for employers to inform employees of their right to elect membership in an alternative plan.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes

According to the Senate Appropriations committee:

• CCCCO would incur minor and absorbable costs to develop the required informational materials.
• The bill would result in minor and absorbable costs to CalSTRS and CalPERS.
• This bill could increase state pension contributions to the extent that additional part-time community college employees enroll in a state retirement system as a result of the bill. The annual fiscal impact is unknown, but could exceed $50,000 annually (General Fund).

SUPPORT: (Verified 8/12/26)

California Federation of Teachers (source)

California Community College Independents
California Federation of Labor Unions
California School Employees Association
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
Service Employees International Union, California

OPPOSITION: (Verified 8/12/26)

None received

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the California Federation of Teachers:

“New part-time faculty may not be aware of the long-term requirements, benefits, and drawbacks of the retirement benefits they can choose between. In many instances, these workers have accumulated decades of service credit in social security, and may not work as a part-time faculty member long enough so that starting over in a new pension system makes financial sense.”

“AB 2417 brings clarity, ensuring part-timers both have the option of Social Security and a basic understanding of what options they have for retirement planning. The bill accomplished the latter by asking the community college chancellor's office to work with CalSTRS to develop informational materials that cover the financial retirement options available to part-time college faculty. This way, newly employed educators will have the most relevant information at hand so they can make the best-informed decision for their own retirement security.”

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 5/22/26

AYES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Ahrens, Alanis, Alvarez, Ávila Farías, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Caloza, Carrillo, Castillo, Connolly, Davies, DeMaio, Dixon, Elhawary, Ellis, Flora, Fong, Gallagher, Garcia, Gipson, Jeff Gonzalez, Mark González, Hadwick, Haney, Harabedian, Hart, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Johnson, Kalra, Krell, Lackey, Lee, Lowenthal, Macedo, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Patel, Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Ransom, Michelle Rodriguez, Rogers, Blanca Rubio, Sanchez, Schiavo, Schultz, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Soria, Stefani, Ta, Tangipa, Valencia, Wallis, Ward, Wicks, Wilson, Zbur, Rivas

NO VOTE RECORDED: Arambula, Chen, Gabriel, Celeste Rodriguez

Prepared by: Glenn Miles / L., P.E. & R. / (916) 651-1556

8/17/26 10:03:10

**** END ****

SENATE COMMITTEE ON

Senator Sabrina Cervantes, Chair

2025 - 2026 Regular Session

AB 2417 (Zbur) - Community colleges: part-time faculty: retirement

Bill Summary:

AB 2417 would require (1) a community college district (CCD) to provide temporary faculty employees the option to participate in social security, the CalSTRS defined benefit program, the CalSTRS Cash Balance Benefit program, if offered, or the CalPERS defined benefit program, and (2) the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) to work with CalSTRS and CalPERS to develop specified information materials on retirement programs opportunities for the CCC temporary faculty.

*********** ANALYSIS ADDENDUM – SUSPENSE FILE ***********

The following information is revised to reflect amendments

adopted by the committee on August 13, 2026

Fiscal Impact:

• CCCCO would incur minor and absorbable costs to develop the required informational materials.
• The bill would result in minor and absorbable costs to CalSTRS and CalPERS.
• This bill could increase state pension contributions to the extent that additional part-time community college employees enroll in a state retirement system as a result of the bill. The annual fiscal impact is unknown, but could exceed $50,000 annually (General Fund).

Author Amendments:

Make technical changes.

-- END --

SENATE COMMITTEE ON

Senator Sabrina Cervantes, Chair

2025 - 2026 Regular Session

AB 2417 (Zbur) - Community colleges: part-time faculty: retirement

Bill Summary:

AB 2417 would require (1) a community college district (CCD) to provide temporary faculty employees the option to participate in social security, the CalSTRS defined benefit program, the CalSTRS Cash Balance Benefit program, if offered, or the CalPERS defined benefit program, and (2) the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) to work with CalSTRS and CalPERS to develop specified information materials on retirement programs opportunities for the CCC temporary faculty.

Fiscal Impact:

• CCCCO would incur minor and absorbable costs to develop the required informational materials.
• The bill would result in minor and absorbable costs to CalSTRS and CalPERS.
• This bill could increase state pension contributions to the extent that additional part-time community college employees enroll in a state retirement system as a result of the bill. The annual fiscal impact is unknown, but could exceed $50,000 annually (General Fund, see Staff Comments).

Background:

Federal law requires public employers to provide employees with either Social Security coverage or membership in a qualified retirement plan. In California, this requirement is generally met through retirement systems such as CalPERS, the CalSTRS Defined Benefit Program, and the CalSTRS Cash Balance Benefit Program. Current law classifies community college district employees who teach no more than 67 percent of a full-time assignment as temporary employees. These employees are generally excluded from the CalSTRS Defined Benefit Program and instead participate in the CalSTRS Cash Balance Benefit Program. Community college districts must provide eligible temporary employees with information about the Cash Balance Benefit Program within 10 days of the employee's first day of employment.

Proposed Law:

This bill, among other things, would do the following:

• Require a CCD to provide a temporary faculty employee the option of membership in CalSTRS’ Defined Benefit (DB) Program, its Cash Balance Benefit Program if offered by the district, or social security.
• Clarify that the district may also offer an alternative retirement option in addition to those required by this bill.
• Require CalSTRS and CalPERS to develop and post on their internet websites on or before July 1, 2027, informational materials regarding the difference between the employee’s available options, as specified.
• Require the district to provide, commencing July 1, 2027, the informational material developed by the retirement systems to newly hire temporary faculty.

Related Legislations:

• H.R. 82 (Graves-LA, 2025) repealed the federal Windfall Elimination Provision and Governmental Pension Offset provisions for Social Security benefit recipients.
• AB 3221 (Gallegos, Chapter 383, Statutes of 1996) among other changes combining existing retirement election provisions, added employer notification requirements to Education Code section 22509.
• AB 1298 (Ducheny, Chapter 592, Statutes of 1995) established the CalSTRS Cash Balance Plan, including the requirement for employers to inform employees of their right to elect membership in an alternative plan.

Staff Comments:

Current law already requires CCDs to provide retirement benefits to eligible part-time employees. This bill does not expand eligibility for CalSTRS or CalPERS benefits or require districts to provide enhanced retirement benefits. Instead, it requires districts to better inform employees of their retirement options and the differences among the plans available to them.

This information may be particularly valuable for temporary community college faculty, who often enter teaching after careers in other industries and may already have accrued retirement benefits through Social Security or another retirement system. Because these employees frequently work part-time, teach at multiple institutions, or begin teaching later in their careers, the retirement options available to them may have different financial implications than they do for employees who spend an entire career in public education. By improving awareness of these options, the bill enables employees to make more informed retirement decisions based on their individual circumstances.

As noted above, this bill could increase state pension contributions to the extent that it results in additional part-time community college faculty enrolling in CalSTRS or CalPERS. For example, if one percent of part-time faculty participate in a state retirement system as a result of the bill, the resulting increase in annual state pension contributions would exceed $50,000.

-- END --

SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Senator Sasha Renée Pérez, Chair

2025 - 2026 Regular

Bill No: Hearing Date: July 1, 2026

Subject: .

SUMMARY

This bill requires community college districts (CCDs) to provide temporary faculty performing CalSTRS-creditable service with the option of participating in the CalSTRS Defined Benefit Program, the CalSTRS Cash Balance Benefit Program if offered by the district, or Social Security. The bill also requires CalSTRS and CalPERS to develop informational materials comparing these retirement options, and requires districts to provide those materials to newly hired temporary faculty beginning July 1, 2027.

BACKGROUND

Existing law:

1. Requires public employers, under federal law, to provide employees with either Social Security coverage or membership in a qualified retirement plan.
2. Establishes CalSTRS, including the Defined Benefit Program and the Cash Balance Benefit Program, for eligible public education employees.
3. Establishes CalPERS for eligible public employees.
4. Requires CCDs to classify faculty employed to teach not more than 67% of a full-time assignment as temporary employees.
5. Excludes temporary and adjunct community college faculty from mandatory CalSTRS Defined Benefit Program membership, but permits eligible employees to elect membership.
6. Authorizes CCDs to offer the CalSTRS Cash Balance Benefit Program to eligible part-time and temporary employees.
7. Requires employers to notify employees with retirement election rights and provide written information to assist with that election.
8. Provides that CalSTRS-covered employment generally is not covered by Social Security, meaning employees do not earn Social Security credits for that service.

ANALYSIS

This bill:

1. Applies to temporary community college faculty performing CalSTRS-creditable service.
2. Requires these employees to be provided the option of membership in:
3. The CalSTRS Defined Benefit Program;
4. The CalSTRS Cash Balance Benefit Program, if offered by the district; or
5. Social Security.
6. Clarifies that districts may offer another retirement option in addition to those specified in the bill.
7. Requires CalSTRS and CalPERS, by July 1, 2027, to develop and post informational materials describing:
8. Differences in membership and contributions among the available retirement options;
9. Examples of how long it takes to vest in benefits; and
10. Examples of the impact of earning Social Security credits.
11. Requires CCDs, beginning July 1, 2027, to provide those materials to newly hired temporary faculty.

STAFF COMMENTS

1. Need for the bill. According to the author, “Part-time community college faculty, who bring real-world experience and in-field expertise into the classroom, face significant inequities compared to their full-time counterparts. One of the most consequential gaps is in retirement information and options. Many part-time faculty who have spent decades contributing to social security are not informed about how to continue or strengthen those benefits, or how those benefits compare to enrolling in a different retirement system. Compounding the issue, not all community college districts even offer social security as an option, nor do they consistently provide clear, side-by-side information about available retirement choices. [This bill] ensures that every part-time faculty member is given complete, transparent information about their retirement options—and the opportunity to continue contributing to social security if they choose. Workers deserve the information they need to make the best financial decisions for themselves and their families. Providing that clarity empowers educators to plan for a secure and stable future.”
2. The unique employment patterns of community college faculty. Unlike many K-12 educators, temporary community college faculty often enter teaching after careers in other industries and may have accumulated retirement benefits through Social Security or other retirement systems prior to joining a CCD. Because temporary faculty frequently work part-time, teach at multiple institutions, or enter the profession later in their careers, retirement decisions may have different implications than they do for employees who spend an entire career in public education. The bill seeks to ensure employees receive information that allows them to evaluate those options based on their individual circumstances.
3. Builds upon ongoing legislative efforts to improve conditions for temporary faculty. Temporary faculty comprise a significant majority of the community college instructional workforce, representing nearly 70% of academic employees statewide. In recent years, the Legislature has invested substantial resources toward addressing long-standing concerns regarding pay parity, office hours compensation, health care access, and other employment conditions for temporary faculty. This bill takes a narrower approach by focusing on retirement literacy and informed decision-making rather than expanding compensation or benefits directly.

“

1. Statewide consistency in information provided to employees. Although existing law provides retirement election rights and notification requirements for eligible employees, the author and sponsors contend that retirement options are not always presented consistently across districts and that employees may not fully understand the long-term implications of available choices. By requiring CalSTRS and CalPERS to develop standardized informational materials and requiring districts to distribute those materials to newly hired temporary faculty, the bill seeks to establish a common baseline of information regardless of where an employee is hired.

SUPPORT

California Federation of Teachers (sponsor)
California Federation of Labor Unions
California School Employees Association
SEIU California

OPPOSITION

None received

-- END --

SENATE COMMITTEE ON LABOR, PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT AND RETIREMENT

Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, Chair

2025 - 2026 Regular

Bill No: AB 2417 Hearing Date: June 17, 2026

SUBJECT: Community colleges: part-time faculty: retirement

KEY ISSUE

This bill requires a community college district to provide temporary faculty employees the option to participate in social security, the CalSTRS defined benefit program, the CalSTRS Cash Balance Benefit program, if offered, or the CalPERS defined benefit program, and requires the CCC Chancellor’s Office to work with CalSTRS and CalPERS to develop specified information materials on retirement programs opportunities for the CCC temporary faculty.

ANALYSIS

Existing law:

1. Requires public employers, under federal law, to provide their employees with either social security coverage or membership in a qualified retirement plan, as specified. (Public Law 101-508, § 11335)

1. Provides, under state law, defined benefit pension plans for public employers that meet the federal requirement of a qualified retirement plan, including, among others, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) defined benefit plan, the California State Teachers Retirement Plan (CalSTRS) defined benefit (DB), and CalSTRS Cash Balance (CB) Benefit Program plan. (Government Code § 20000 et seq.; Education Code § 22000 et seq.; and Education Code § 26001 et seq.)
2. Requires a district to classify specified employees (i.e., those employed to teach for not more than 67 percent of the regular full-time weekly assignment) as a temporary employee. (Education Code § 87482.5(a))
3. Provides CalSTRS’ CB plan for, among others, temporary community college district employees excluded from CalSTRS’ DB plan, as specified. (Education Code § 26000 et seq.)
4. Requires the district to provide specified information about the CB plan to eligible temporary employees within 10 days of the employee’s first day of employment. (Education Code § 26300)

This bill:

1. Requires a community college district to provide a temporary faculty employee the option of membership in CalSTRS’ Defined Benefit (DB) Program, its Cash Balance Benefit Program if offered by the district, or social security.
2. Clarifies that the district may also offer an alternative retirement option in addition to those required by this bill.
3. Requires CalSTRS and CalPERS to develop and post on their internet websites on or before July 1, 2027, informational materials regarding the difference between the employee’s available options, as specified.
4. Requires the district to provide, commencing July 1, 2027, the informational material developed by the retirement systems to newly hire temporary faculty.

COMMENTS

1. Background:

According to CalSTRS:

“Members and participants of CalSTRS’ DB and CB Benefit programs do not contribute to SSA for their CalSTRS-covered employment. Under current law, to retain an exemption from mandatory SSA coverage, a state must offer a retirement plan with commensurate benefits to SSA, known as a FICA-replacement plan. CalSTRS’ DB and CB Benefit programs both serve as suitable FICA-replacement plans.”

“Generally, an individual contributing to SSA can earn up to four credits a year and must earn minimum of 40 credits to be eligible for an SSA retirement benefit. A person’s benefit is calculated based on their highest 35 years of SSA-covered earnings. For those with less than 35 years of earnings, SSA fills the remaining years with zeros, which lowers the average benefit. This means that working a career with some covered and some non-covered employment could dilute an individual’s average earnings, resulting in a lower SSA benefit. The Social Security Administration estimates SSA benefits replace about 40% of annual pre-retirement earnings for career SSA contributors. By comparison, a career educator in CalSTRS’ DB Program receives an average DB benefit replacing between 50% and 60% of salary. Still, an individual whose primary career was in non-SSA-covered employment might choose to contribute to SSA on a part-time basis to earn sufficient credits to qualify for a modest SSA benefit.”

“Prior to 2025, CalSTRS members seeking to claim an SSA benefit were subject to two provisions that could negatively impact their benefit—the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). The WEP reduced SSA benefits for individuals who also received a pension for non-SSA covered work via a modified formula for calculating an individual’s own SSA benefit. The GPO similarly reduced spousal and survivor SSA benefits payable to those receiving a government pension, such as through CalSTRS. On January 5, 2025, President Biden signed the Social Security Fairness Act, which repealed these two provisions.”

2. Need for this bill?

According to the author, part-time community college employees sometime come to the education field after careers in other industries where they earned retirement credits in Social Security. They may be unaware of the potential personal implications of selecting the most common retirement options in the public education field: CalSTRS’ Defined Benefit or Cash Balance plans or an alternative option, instead of Social Security. Those plans are excellent for employees who start their careers early and stay continuously in the education field. They may not provide much benefit for people who come later in their careers and may prevent those people from earning the 40 credits necessary to qualify for Social Security, since positions covered by those plans are typically excluded from Social Security. Since coverage under those plans means neither the employer nor the employee pay into Social Security, it may be tempting for the employee to elect those plans instead of Social Security and for the employer not to promote Social Security as an option. Thus, the employee who is unaware of the complicated interaction of these different retirement options may end up with very little retirement benefit and not enough credits to qualify for Social Security.

3. Proponent Arguments:

According to the California Federation of Teachers:

“New part-time faculty may not be aware of the long-term requirements, benefits, and drawbacks of the retirement benefits they can choose between. In many instances, these workers have accumulated decades of service credit in social security, and may not work as a part-time faculty member long enough so that starting over in a new pension system makes financial sense.”

“AB 2417 brings clarity, ensuring part-timers both have the option of Social Security and a basic understanding of what options they have for retirement planning. The bill accomplished the latter by asking the community college chancellor's office to work with CalSTRS to develop informational materials that cover the financial retirement options available to part-time college faculty. This way, newly employed educators will have the most relevant information at hand so they can make the best-informed decision for their own retirement security.”

4. Opponent Arguments:

None received.

5. Dual Referral: The Senate Rules Committee referred this bill to the Senate Labor, Public Employees and Retirement Committee and to the Senate Education Committee.

6. Prior Legislation:

H.R. 82 (Graves-LA, 2025) repealed the federal Windfall Elimination Provision and Governmental Pension Offset provisions for Social Security benefit recipients.

AB 3221 (Gallegos, Chapter 383, Statutes of 1996) among other changes combining existing

retirement election provisions, added employer notification requirements to Education Code

section 22509.

AB 1298 (Ducheny, Chapter 592, Statutes of 1995) established the CalSTRS Cash Balance Plan, including the requirement for employers to inform employees of their right to elect membership in an alternative plan.

SUPPORT

California Federation of Teachers (Sponsor)

California Community College Independents

California Federation of Labor Unions

California School Employees Association

Faculty Association of California Community Colleges

Service Employee Internation Union, California

OPPOSITION

None received

-- END --

ASSEMBLY THIRD READING

ATR Bill Id:AB 2417

Author:(Zbur)

As Amended Ver:May 18, 2026

Majority vote

SUMMARY

Requires the State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) and the Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) to develop informational material regarding various retirement options by a date certain and post the information on their respective internet websites, and community college districts (CCD) to provide that information to persons employed and classified as a temporary employee by that same date, among other provisions.

Major Provisions

1. Require, on or before July 1, 2027, CalSTRS and CalPERS to develop and post on their respective internet websites informational material regarding all of the following:
2. The differences between membership and contributions made to the retirement options in 3), below.
3. Examples covering the amount of time required to vest in benefits offered by those retirement options.
4. Examples of the impact of having credits provided to social security.
5. Require: a) beginning July 1, 2027, a CCD to provide the above-described informational material to newly hired persons classified as temporary employees; and, b) persons classified as a temporary employee employed by a CCD to perform creditable service to be provided the option of membership in the Defined Benefit (DB) Program, Cash Balance (CB) Benefit Program (if offered), or social security.
6. Provide that the provisions of this bill do not limit a CCD from offering an alternative retirement option in addition to the above-described programs.
7. Define various terms for these purposes.

COMMENTS

Part--time faculty at the California Community Colleges (CCC)

Under existing law, persons employed to teach adult or community college classes for not more than 67 percent of the hours per week considered a full-time assignment for regular employees having comparable duties, must be classified as a temporary employee and not become a contract employee. (Section 87482.5, Educ. Code.)

The CCC is the largest two-year system in the United States and educates roughly 2.1 million students between the 116 campuses located throughout the state. The 115 brick and mortar college campuses are divided into 72 districts managed by local governing boards comprised of locally elected trustees. Calbright College is overseen by the Board of Governors, which is the statewide governing board for all 116 colleges and 73 districts. Each community college district's governing board, employs part-time, contract, and tenured faculty to fulfill the academic duties of the college within the community college district.

In fall 2025, the CCC employed 18,499 tenured/tenure track faculty and 40,902 part-time faculty. Part-time faculty represented 68.9 percent of the academic workforce at the community college. In February 2023, the California State Auditor published an audit titled, "California Community Colleges: Increasing Full-Time Faculty and Diversity Remains a Challenge."^[1] The audit described the difference between part-time and tenured track/tenured employees by detailing that, "part-time faculty members are classified as Part-time employees and generally receive fewer employee benefits. Full-time faculty members are typically hired with the expectation that they will work to achieve tenure, which makes them permanent employees. Hiring part-time faculty allows colleges more flexibility to quickly meet changing educational demands in certain fields, but part-time faculty also face challenges that make it more difficult to provide the support their students need. Because colleges can hire part-time faculty faster and at less cost than they can hire full-time faculty, they frequently rely on part-time hiring to fill faculty positions in the short term. In 2021, the Chancellor's Office estimated that the average cost for compensation and benefits of a full-time faculty member was about $131,000, whereas the average cost of a part-time faculty member who teaches a full load of 15 credits, but generally would not receive benefits, was about $45,000. Part-time faculty members have less support from the college than full-time faculty members and are given fewer responsibilities."

To remedy the disparities between part-time and tenured track/tenured faculty, the Legislature has provided ongoing funding for: pay parity for comparable work for part-time faculty, compensation for part-time faculty's office hours, and the provision of health care to part-time faculty. The Legislature has also passed a myriad of legislative proposals requiring community college districts to have specific provisions pertaining to part-time faculty within the collective bargaining agreement for faculty. In the enacted 2025-26 State Budget Act, the State provided $23.6 million for office hour compensation for part-time faculty, $26.5 million for part-time faculty pay parity, and $200.4 million for part-time faculty health insurance reimbursement.

CalSTRS Retirement Plans

CalSTRS administers a hybrid retirement system consisting of traditional DB benefits, cash balance, and a voluntary defined contribution plan, as discussed below.

CalSTRS administers a DB Program that provides a lifetime monthly benefit upon attaining a combination of the requisite minimum years of age and service for retirement, commonly referred to as "vesting" or "vested." Consisting of a combination of contributions from the State, employer, and employee, this benefit has varying formulas depending on when the employee began performing CalSTRS creditable service activities. The varying formulas, consisting of two, are a result of legislative enactment of the PEPRA. Regarding DB contribution rates, the employer contributes an amount equal to approximately 19.10 percent of the employee’s creditable compensation, and the State contributes approximately 8.328 percent of CalSTRS members’ annual creditable compensation, as well as approximately 2.5 percent of CalSTRS members’ earnings to pay for purchasing power protection. Depending on what formula applies to the employee, employees contribute approximately 10.25 percent (for the 2 percent at 60 formula), or 10.205 percent (for the 2 percent at 62 formula) of their creditable earnings. Mandatory DB Program membership depends on the employee's status, the type of employer and, in some cases, whether the employer offers the CB Benefit Program. However, temporary and adjunct employees are excluded from mandatory membership.

CalSTRS' CB Benefit Program is a DB Supplement (DBS) where the employer's and employee’s contributions on eligible earnings are credited to the employee's DBS account. This account accrues guaranteed interest and, when the CalSTRS Board declares, additional earnings credits. When the employee retires, they are eligible to receive a lump-sum payment or annuity based on the total account balance. This DBS Program is a cash balance plan for DB Program members for earnings in excess of one year in a school year and other specific compensation. CalSTRS' CB Benefit Program also is a retirement plan that employers can offer part-time educators, or another eligible retirement plan, as an alternative to the DB Program or social security.

CalSTRS' Defined Contribution (DC) Plan, also called "Pension2," offers 403(b), 457(b), Roth 403(b), and Roth 457(b) investment plans for additional income in retirement. Open to all school employees, the amount an employee has at retirement depends on their contributions, investment gains and losses, and expenses. Typically, employees contribute 4 percent of their salary, and the employer must contribute an amount equal to at least 4 percent of the employee's salary.

CalSTRS and Social Security

Historically, California public educators who contribute to CalSTRS (and more specifically, it's DB Program) do not pay into social security. When they retire, they will not receive social security benefits for their CalSTRS-covered employment. However, they may be eligible to receive a benefit through other employment or their spouse. A district must offer social security to its part-time or temporary employees if it does not offer an alternative eligible retirement plan. As previously discussed, the federal Social Security Fairness Act became law on January 5, 2025. However, neither CalSTRS nor the state have control over eligibility requirements or social security benefit calculations.

Under current law, a person who is a temporary employee at a community college is not mandated to participate in CalSTRS’ DB Program. Instead, they can permissively elect to join the DB Program or choose to participate in an alternative retirement plan, including the CB Benefit Program, if offered by the employer. To offer the CB Benefit Program, an employer’s governing board must elect to do so. Some, but not all, CCDs offer as an alternative retirement plan. Further, under existing law, employers must notify an employee who has a right to make a retirement system election of their right to make such an election within 10 working days of the date of hire, including providing written information provided by each retirement system concerning the benefits provided under that retirement system to assist the employee in making an election.  Further, employers that offer the CB Benefit Program must make information regarding the DB and CB Benefit programs available within 10 working days of specified dates.

CalSTRS and CalPERS

Generally, a CalSTRS DB Program member who became employed by the same or a different school district, CCD, county office of education or certain employment by the State to perform services that requires membership in CalPERS, may elect to continue CalSTRS coverage, and service in the new position will be treated as creditable service under the CalSTRS DB Program. Making this election is subject to: (i) being completed with 60 days of the date of hire in the new position; (ii) being done on the appropriate CalSTRS form provided by the employer and received by CalSTRS within 60 days of the signature date; (iii) being effective as of the date of hire into the new position, and (iv) being irrevocable and applies to all service for that position.

Certain CalPERS members who subsequently are employed in a position that requires CalSTRS membership can elect to continue CalPERS coverage for all subsequent CalSTRS-creditable service. This applies to CalPERS members employed by one or more of the following: (i) a school district; (ii) California Community College Board of Governors; (iii) California Department of Education (as of January 1, 2002), and (iv) a CalPERS and CalSTRS participating charter school.

CalPERS members who are employed full-time and accept part-time, temporary employment to perform creditable service covered by CalSTRS' DB Program can permissively elect membership in CalSTRS and have their part-time service reported to CalSTRS.

Federal Action Regarding Social Security: The Federal Social Security Fairness Act of 2023

Public Law 118-273 (H.R. 82), also known as the federal Social Security Fairness Act of 2023, repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) that reduced or eliminated social security benefits for individuals who receive a pension based on work that was not covered by social security because they did not pay Social Security taxes. Among other workers, the Social Security Fairness Act benefits certain types of employees, including teachers, firefighters, and police officers in many states.

This reform was aimed at providing equitable benefits to public employees who, historically, have been disadvantaged by working in certain public employment careers, but have contributed to their communities throughout their careers. The elimination of the WEP and GPO ensures that these workers receive full benefits upon retirement.

Please refer to the respective policy committee analyses for a full discussion of this bill.

According to the Author

"Part-time community college faculty, who bring real-world experience and in-field expertise into the classroom, face significant inequities compared to their full-time counterparts. One of the most consequential gaps is in retirement information and options. Many part-time faculty who have spent decades contributing to social security are not informed about how to continue or strengthen those benefits, or how those benefits compare to enrolling in a different retirement system. Compounding the issue, not all community college districts even offer social security as an option, nor do they consistently provide clear, side-by-side information about available retirement choices. [This bill] ensures that every part-time faculty member is given complete, transparent information about their retirement options—and the opportunity to continue contributing to social security if they choose. Workers deserve the information they need to make the best financial decisions for themselves and their families. Providing that clarity empowers educators to plan for a secure and stable future."

Arguments in Support

Among other things, the several supporters express, "[p]art-time community college faculty are often individuals who have chosen to give back to their communities by becoming educators in their local community college districts after long careers in the private sector. Most private sector jobs accumulate credit in the social security system. Upon the start of employment with a community college district, the new educator will be provided with several options for their retirement plan, including the [CalSTRS] pension, CalSTRS [CB Benefit Program] if offered, and several other options that may be offered by districts. However, while current law also allows the option of social security, this option is often not as apparent, nor always offered as the other retirement options. New part-time faculty may not be aware of the long-term requirements, benefits, and drawbacks of the retirement benefits they can choose between. In many instances, these workers have accumulated decades of service credit in social security, and may not work as a part-time faculty member long enough so that starting over in a new pension system makes financial sense. [This bill] brings clarity, ensuring part-timers both have the option of social security and a basic understanding of what options they have for retirement planning."

Arguments in Opposition

None on file.

FISCAL COMMENTS

According to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations, this bill would result in the following:

1. Minor and absorbable costs for the CCCCO to develop the required informational materials. However, the CCCCO notes they may not be the appropriate entity to develop the information as individual CCDs have both statutory authority and structural oversight regarding local hiring and staff benefits.
2. Minor and absorbable costs to CalSTRS and CalPERS.

VOTES

ASM PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT AND RETIREMENT: 6-0-1

YES: McKinnor, Lackey, Boerner, Garcia, Nguyen, Michelle Rodriguez

ABS, ABST OR NV: Alanis

ASM HIGHER EDUCATION: 10-0-0

YES: Fong, DeMaio, Boerner, Macedo, Jackson, Muratsuchi, Patel, Ramos, Sharp-Collins, Tangipa

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 14-0-1

YES: Wicks, Hoover, Aguiar-Curry, Caloza, Dixon, Fong, Mark González, Krell, Pacheco, Pellerin, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Ta, Tangipa

ABS, ABST OR NV: Arambula

UPDATED

VERSION: May 18, 2026

CONSULTANT: Michael Bolden / P. E. & R. / (916) 319-3957 FN: 0003054

1. https://information.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2022-113/index.html ↑

ASSEMBLY THIRD READING

ATR Bill Id:AB 2417

Author:(Zbur)

As Introduced Ver:February 20, 2026

Majority vote

SUMMARY

Requires a community college district (CCD) to provide part-time faculty with the option of membership in the State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) Defined Benefit (DB) Program, the Cash Balance (CB) Benefit Program, if offered, or social security, and the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office (CCCCO) to work with CalSTRS and the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) to develop informational materials regarding the available retirement benefit options and social security.

Major Provisions

1. Require the CCCCO to work with CalSTRS and CalPERS to develop informational material regarding:
2. The differences between membership and contributions made to the above-described retirement options.
3. Examples covering the amount of time required to vest in benefits offered by those retirement options.
4. Examples of the impact of having credits provided to social security.
5. Provide that the provisions of this bill do not limit a CCD from offering an alternative retirement option in addition to those programs.
6. Define various terms for these purposes.

COMMENTS

Part-time faculty at the California Community Colleges (CCC)

The CCC is the largest two-year system in the United States and educates roughly 2.1 million students between the 116 campuses located throughout the state. The 115 brick and mortar college campuses are divided into 72 districts managed by local governing boards comprised of locally elected trustees. Calbright College is overseen by the Board of Governors, which is the statewide governing board for all 116 colleges and 73 districts. Each community college district's governing board, employs part-time, contract, and tenured faculty to fulfill the academic duties of the college within the community college district.

In fall 2025, the CCC employed 18,499 tenured/tenure track faculty and 40,902 part-time faculty. Part-time faculty represented 68.9% of the academic workforce at the community college. In February 2023, the California State Auditor published an audit titled, "California Community Colleges: Increasing Full-Time Faculty and Diversity Remains a Challenge."^[1] The audit described the difference between part-time and tenured track/tenured employees by detailing that, "part-time faculty members are classified as Part-time employees and generally receive fewer employee benefits. Full-time faculty members are typically hired with the expectation that they will work to achieve tenure, which makes them permanent employees. Hiring part-time faculty allows colleges more flexibility to quickly meet changing educational demands in certain fields, but part-time faculty also face challenges that make it more difficult to provide the support their students need. Because colleges can hire part-time faculty faster and at less cost than they can hire full-time faculty, they frequently rely on part-time hiring to fill faculty positions in the short term. In 2021, the Chancellor's Office estimated that the average cost for compensation and benefits of a full-time faculty member was about $131,000, whereas the average cost of a part-time faculty member who teaches a full load of 15 credits, but generally would not receive benefits, was about $45,000. Part-time faculty members have less support from the college than full-time faculty members and are given fewer responsibilities."

To remedy the disparities between part-time and tenured track/tenured faculty, the Legislature has provided ongoing funding for: pay parity for comparable work for part-time faculty, compensation for part-time faculty's office hours, and the provision of health care to part-time faculty. The Legislature has also passed a myriad of legislative proposals requiring community college districts to have specific provisions pertaining to part-time faculty within the collective bargaining agreement for faculty. In the enacted 2025-26 State Budget Act, the State provided $23.6 million for office hour compensation for part-time faculty, $26.5 million for part-time faculty pay parity, and $200.4 million for part-time faculty health insurance reimbursement.

CalSTRS Retirement Plans

CalSTRS administers a hybrid retirement system consisting of traditional DB benefits, cash balance, and a voluntary defined contribution plan, as discussed below.

CalSTRS administers a DB Program that provides a lifetime monthly benefit upon attaining a combination of the requisite minimum years of age and service for retirement, commonly referred to as "vesting" or "vested." Consisting of a combination of contributions from the State, employer, and employee, this benefit has varying formulas depending on when the employee began performing CalSTRS creditable service activities. The varying formulas, consisting of two, are a result of legislative enactment of the PEPRA. Regarding DB contribution rates, the employer contributes an amount equal to approximately 19.10% of the employee's creditable compensation, and the State contributes approximately 8.328% of CalSTRS members' annual creditable compensation, as well as approximately 2.5% of CalSTRS members' earnings to pay for purchasing power protection. Depending on what formula applies to the employee, employees contribute approximately 10.25% (for the 2% at 60 formula), or 10.205% (for the 2% at 62 formula) of their creditable earnings. Mandatory DB Program membership depends on the employee's status, the type of employer and, in some cases, whether the employer offers the CB Benefit Program. However, temporary and adjunct employees are excluded from mandatory membership.

CalSTRS' CB Benefit Program is a DB Supplement (DBS) where the employer's and employee's contributions on eligible earnings are credited to the employee's DBS account. This account accrues guaranteed interest and, when the CalSTRS Board declares, additional earnings credits. When the employee retires, they are eligible to receive a lump-sum payment or annuity based on the total account balance. This DBS Program is a cash balance plan for DB Program members for earnings in excess of one year in a school year and other specific compensation. CalSTRS' CB Benefit Program also is a retirement plan that employers can offer part-time educators, or another eligible retirement plan, as an alternative to the DB Program or social security.

CalSTRS' Defined Contribution (DC) Plan, also called "Pension2," offers 403(b), 457(b), Roth 403(b), and Roth 457(b) investment plans for additional income in retirement. Open to all school employees, the amount an employee has at retirement depends on their contributions, investment gains and losses, and expenses. Typically, employees contribute 4% of their salary, and the employer must contribute an amount equal to at least 4% of the employee's salary.

CalSTRS and Social Security

Historically, California public educators who contribute to CalSTRS (and more specifically, it's DB Program) do not pay into social security. When they retire, they will not receive social security benefits for their CalSTRS-covered employment. However, they may be eligible to receive a benefit through other employment or their spouse. A district must offer social security to its part-time or temporary employees if it does not offer an alternative eligible retirement plan. As previously discussed, the federal Social Security Fairness Act became law on January 5, 2025. However, neither CalSTRS nor the state have control over eligibility requirements or social security benefit calculations.

Under current law, a person who is a temporary employee at a community college is not mandated to participate in CalSTRS' DB Program. Instead, they can permissively elect to join the DB Program or choose to participate in an alternative retirement plan, including the CB Benefit Program, if offered by the employer. To offer the CB Benefit Program, an employer's governing board must elect to do so. Some, but not all, CCDs offer as an alternative retirement plan. Further, under existing law, employers must notify an employee who has a right to make a retirement system election of their right to make such an election within 10 working days of the date of hire, including providing written information provided by each retirement system concerning the benefits provided under that retirement system to assist the employee in making an election.  Further, employers that offer the CB Benefit Program must make information regarding the DB and CB Benefit programs available within 10 working days of specified dates.

CalSTRS and CalPERS

Generally, a CalSTRS DB Program member who became employed by the same or a different school district, CCD, county office of education or certain employment by the State to perform services that requires membership in CalPERS, may elect to continue CalSTRS coverage, and service in the new position will be treated as creditable service under the CalSTRS DB Program. Making this election is subject to: (i) being completed with 60 days of the date of hire in the new position; (ii) being done on the appropriate CalSTRS form provided by the employer and received by CalSTRS within 60 days of the signature date; (iii) being effective as of the date of hire into the new position, and (iv) being irrevocable and applies to all service for that position.

Certain CalPERS members who subsequently are employed in a position that requires CalSTRS membership can elect to continue CalPERS coverage for all subsequent CalSTRS-creditable service. This applies to CalPERS members employed by one or more of the following: (i) a school district; (ii) California Community College Board of Governors; (iii) California Department of Education (as of January 1, 2002), and (iv) a CalPERS and CalSTRS participating charter school.

CalPERS members who are employed full-time and accept part-time, temporary employment to perform creditable service covered by CalSTRS' DB Program can permissively elect membership in CalSTRS and have their part-time service reported to CalSTRS.

Federal Action Regarding Social Security: The Federal Social Security Fairness Act of 2023

Public Law 118-273 (H.R. 82), also known as the federal Social Security Fairness Act of 2023, repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) that reduced or eliminated social security benefits for individuals who receive a pension based on work that was not covered by social security because they did not pay Social Security taxes. Among other workers, the Social Security Fairness Act benefits certain types of employees, including teachers, firefighters, and police officers in many states.

This reform was aimed at providing equitable benefits to public employees who, historically, have been disadvantaged by working in certain public employment careers, but have contributed to their communities throughout their careers. The elimination of the WEP and GPO ensures that these workers receive full benefits upon retirement.

Please refer to the respective policy committee analyses for a full discussion of this bill.

According to the Author

"Part-time community college faculty, who bring real-world experience and in-field expertise into the classroom, face significant inequities compared to their full-time counterparts. One of the most consequential gaps is in retirement information and options. Many part-time faculty who have spent decades contributing to social security are not informed about how to continue or strengthen those benefits, or how those benefits compare to enrolling in a different retirement system. Compounding the issue, not all community college districts even offer social security as an option, nor do they consistently provide clear, side-by-side information about available retirement choices. [This bill] ensures that every part-time faculty member is given complete, transparent information about their retirement options—and the opportunity to continue contributing to social security if they choose. Workers deserve the information they need to make the best financial decisions for themselves and their families. Providing that clarity empowers educators to plan for a secure and stable future."

Arguments in Support

Among other things, the several supporters express, "[p]art-time community college faculty are often individuals who have chosen to give back to their communities by becoming educators in their local community college districts after long careers in the private sector. Most private sector jobs accumulate credit in the social security system. Upon the start of employment with a community college district, the new educator will be provided with several options for their retirement plan, including the [CalSTRS] pension, CalSTRS [CB Benefit Program] if offered, and several other options that may be offered by districts. However, while current law also allows the option of social security, this option is often not as apparent, nor always offered as the other retirement options. New part-time faculty may not be aware of the long-term requirements, benefits, and drawbacks of the retirement benefits they can choose between. In many instances, these workers have accumulated decades of service credit in social security, and may not work as a part-time faculty member long enough so that starting over in a new pension system makes financial sense. [This bill] brings clarity, ensuring part-timers both have the option of social security and a basic understanding of what options they have for retirement planning."

Arguments in Opposition

None on file.

FISCAL COMMENTS

According to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations, this bill would result in the following:

1. Minor and absorbable costs for the CCCCO to develop the required informational materials. However, the CCCCO notes they may not be the appropriate entity to develop the information as individual CCDs have both statutory authority and structural oversight regarding local hiring and staff benefits.
2. Minor and absorbable costs to CalSTRS and CalPERS.

VOTES

ASM PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT AND RETIREMENT: 6-0-1

YES: McKinnor, Lackey, Boerner, Garcia, Nguyen, Michelle Rodriguez

ABS, ABST OR NV: Alanis

ASM HIGHER EDUCATION: 10-0-0

YES: Fong, DeMaio, Boerner, Macedo, Jackson, Muratsuchi, Patel, Ramos, Sharp-Collins, Tangipa

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 14-0-1

YES: Wicks, Hoover, Aguiar-Curry, Caloza, Dixon, Fong, Mark González, Krell, Pacheco, Pellerin, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Ta, Tangipa

ABS, ABST OR NV: Arambula

UPDATED

VERSION: February 20, 2026

CONSULTANT: Michael Bolden / P. E. & R. / (916) 319-3957 FN: 0002488

1. https://information.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2022-113/index.html ↑

Date of Hearing: May 6, 2026

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Buffy Wicks, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 2417

Author:(Zbur) – As Introduced Ver:February 20, 2026

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: Yes

SUMMARY:

This bill requires a community college district (CCD) to provide part-time faculty with the option of membership in the Defined Benefit Program, the Cash Balance Benefit Program, if offered, or social security. The bill also requires the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) to work with the State Teachers’ Retirement System (STRS) and the Public Employers’ Retirement System (PERS) to develop informational materials regarding the available retirement benefit options and social security.

FISCAL EFFECT:

1. Minor and absorbable costs for the CCCCO to develop the required informational materials. However, CCCCO notes they may not be the appropriate entity to develop the information as individual CCDs have both statutory authority and structural oversight regarding local hiring and staff benefits.
2. Minor and absorbable costs to STRS and PERS.

COMMENTS:

Current law already requires a CCD to provide some form of retirement benefit to part-time employees. Therefore, this bill does not increase the number of eligible faculty for STRS or PERS benefits, nor does it require an expanded benefit be provided to part-time faculty. Rather, proponents of the bill claim it is an attempt to better inform employees of their rights and increase awareness of the differences among each retirement plans available to them. According to the bill’s sponsors, the California Federation of Teachers:

New part-time faculty may not be aware of the long-term requirements, benefits, and drawbacks of the retirement benefits they can choose between. In many instances, these workers have accumulated decades of service credit in social security, and may not work as a part-time faculty member long enough so that starting over in a new pension system makes financial sense. AB 2417 brings clarity, ensuring part-timers both have the option of Social Security and a basic understanding of what options they have for retirement planning.

Analysis Prepared by: Aaron Heredia / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: April 21, 2026

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION

Mike Fong, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 2417 (

Author:Zbur) – As Revised Ver:April 08, 2024

SUBJECT: Community colleges: part-time faculty: retirement

SUMMARY: Requires part-time faculty at a community college district, who performs a credible service for retirement benefits, to be provided with options to participate in specified retirement programs, and requires the California Community College (CCC) Chancellor’s Office to develop information materials on the specified retirement programs. Specifically, this bill:

1. Requires the CCC Chancellor’s Office to work with the State Teacher’s Retirement System (STRS) and the Public Retirement System (PERS) to develop information materials on the following:
   1. The differences between membership and the contributions made to the CalSTRS Defined Benefit Program, the CalSTRS Cash Balance Benefit Program, and social security;
   2. Examples covering the amount of time required to vest in benefits offered by CalSTRS Defined Benefit Program, the CalSTRS Cash Balance Benefit Program, and social security; and,
   3. Examples of the impact of having credits provided in social security.
2. Requires a community college district to provide qualifying part-time faculty with the option of participation in social security, the CalSTRS defined benefit program, or the CalSTRS Cash Balance Benefit program, if offered.
3. Clarifies the requirement for participation in the retirement/pension programs listed in (2), does not prohibit the community college district from offering an alternative retirement option in addition to the retirement/pension programs listed in (2).
4. Defines a qualifying part-time faculty member as a faculty member who is employed to perform a credible service for CalSTRS and is employed part-time or for not more than 67 percent of the hours per week of what would be considered a full-time assignment teaching assignment at the community college district.
5. States if the Commission on State Mandates determines there is a cost associated with the implementation of the measure, the State will reimburse local agencies and school districts for the determined cost.

EXISTING LAW: For a review of existing federal and state law on CalSTRS, CalPERS, and social security, please refer to the analysis completed by the Assembly Public and Retirement Committee.

State law pertaining to community college districts.

1. Establishes the California Community Colleges (CCC) under the administration of the Board of Governors of the CCC, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. The CCC shall be comprised of community college districts (Education Code (EDC) Section 70900).
2. Establishes that CCC districts are under the control of a board of trustees, known as the governing board, who has the authority to establish, maintain, operate, and govern one or more community colleges, within its district as specified (EDC Section 70902).
3. Defines faculty as employees of a community college district who are employed in an academic position that is not designated as supervisory or management, as defined. Faculty include, but are not limited to, instructors, librarians, counselors, community college health services professionals, handicapped student programs and services professionals, extended opportunity programs, and service professionals, and people employed in a position prior to July 1, 1990 that required nonsupervisory, nonmanagement community college certification qualifications (EDC Section 87003 (a)).
4. Defines a part-time faculty at the CCC as a faculty member who teaches 67% of the hours per week of what is considered a full-time assignment for regular faculty on a similar assignment. Clarifies a part-time faculty are not contract faculty and therefore are not subject to tenure nor subject to the protections provided by the EDC Code for contract faculty (EDC Section 87482.5).
5. States wherever possible part-time faculty should be:
   1. Informed of assignments six weeks in advance;
   2. Paid for the first week of an assignment when class is cancelled less than two weeks before the beginning of a semester and should be paid for all the classes scheduled for that week;
   3. Have their names listed as the professor for the assigned course;
   4. Have their names listed in the course schedule provided to students, faculty, and staff for the courses the part-time faculty is assigned to teach; and,
   5. Considered as an integral part of their department and be given the same rights provided to full-time faculty in terms of book selection, participation in department activities, and the use of college resources (EDC Section 87482.8).
6. Requires the issue of earning and retaining of annual reappointment rights to be a subject of negotiation within the collective bargaining rights for part-time employees beginning with contracts adopted after January 1, 2002 (EDC Section 87482.9).
7. Authorizes community college districts to employ each academic faculty member as either contract, regular, or part-time (EDC Section 87604).

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown

COMMENTS: Double referred. This measure was heard by the Assembly Public Employment and Retirement Committee on April 08, 2026, where it passed with a vote of 6 – 0. A review on the issues germane to public employment and retirement is addressed in the Committee’s analysis.

Author’s statement. As explained by the author, “part-time community college faculty, who bring real-world experience and in-field expertise into the classroom, face significant inequities compared to their full-time counterparts. One of the most consequential gaps is in retirement information and options. Many part-time faculty who have spent decades contributing to Social Security are not informed about how to continue or strengthen those benefits, or how those benefits compare to enrolling in a different retirement system. Compounding the issue, not all community college districts even offer Social Security as an option, nor do they consistently provide clear, side-by-side information about available retirement choices.”

As further explained by the author, AB 2417, “ensures that every part-time faculty member is given complete, transparent information about their retirement options—and the opportunity to continue contributing to Social Security if they choose. Workers deserve the information they need to make the best financial decisions for themselves and their families. Providing that clarity empowers educators to plan for a secure and stable future.”

Part-time faculty at the California Community Colleges (CCC). The CCC is the largest two-year system in the United States and educates roughly 2.1 million students between the 116 campuses located throughout the state.^[1] The 115 brick and mortar college campuses are divided into 72 districts managed by local governing boards comprised of locally elected trustees. Calbright College is overseen by the Board of Governors, which is the statewide governing board for all 116 colleges and 73 districts. Each community college district’s governing board, employs part-time, contract, and tenured faculty to fulfill the academic duties of the college within the community college district.

In fall 2025 the CCC employed 18,499 tenured/tenure track faculty and 40,902 part-time faculty.^[2] Part-time faculty represented 68.9% of the academic workforce at the community college. In February 2023, the California State Auditor published an audit entitled, “California Community Colleges: Increasing Full-Time Faculty and Diversity Remains a Challenge.”^[3] The audit described the difference between part-time and tenured track/tenured employees by detailing that,

“part-time faculty members are classified as Part-time employees and generally receive fewer employee benefits. Full-time faculty members are typically hired with the expectation that they will work to achieve tenure, which makes them permanent employees. Hiring part-time faculty allows colleges more flexibility to quickly meet changing educational demands in certain fields, but part-time faculty also face challenges that make it more difficult to provide the support their students need. Because colleges can hire part-time faculty faster and at less cost than they can hire full-time faculty, they frequently rely on part-time hiring to fill faculty positions in the short term. In 2021 the Chancellor’s Office estimated that the average cost for compensation and benefits of a full-time faculty member was about $131,000, whereas the average cost of a part-time faculty member who teaches a full load of 15 credits, but generally would not receive benefits, was about $45,000. Part-time faculty members have less support from the college than full-time faculty members and are given fewer responsibilities.”

To remedy the disparities between part-time and tenured track/tenured faculty, the Legislature has provided ongoing funding for: pay parity for comparable work for part-time faculty, compensation for part-time faculty’s office hours, and the provision of health care to part-time faculty. The Legislature has also passed a myriad of legislation requiring community college districts to have specific provisions pertaining to part-time faculty within the collective bargaining agreement for faculty. In the 2025-2026 enacted budget, the State provided $23.6 million for office hour compensation for part-time faculty, $26.5 million for part-time faculty pay parity, and $200.4 million for part-time faculty health insurance reimbursement.

Retirement options for part-time faculty. As detailed in the analysis completed by the Assembly Committee on Public Employment and Retirement, every community college district is already required by state and federal law to provide some form of retirement benefit to their employees, part-time or full-time.^[4] Therefore, this measure informs community college part-time faculty of their right to options under the law and requires the Chancellor’s Office to provide a benefits description fact sheet on the available choices to the faculty member. This measure does not increase eligibility for CalSTRS nor does it require a community college district to provide a retirement benefit beyond what is required in existing law. Participation in CalSTRS for part-time faculty is optional and therefore, if an employee chooses not to participate, the district is required by state and federal law to furnish the employee with either social security or another retirement option.^[5] This measure would inform employees of their rights and provide the part-time faculty with factual information on the differences of each retirement plan offered to them by the community college district.

Arguments in support. As the sponsors of the measure, CFT – A Union of Educators and Classified Professionals, AFT, AFL-CIO (CFT), states “part-time community college faculty are often individuals who have chosen to give back to their communities by becoming educators in their local community college districts after long careers in the private sector. Most private sector jobs accumulate credit in the social security system. Upon the start of employment with a community college district, the new educator will be provided with several options for their retirement plan, including the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) pension, CalSTRS Cash Balance Benefit Program if offered, and several other options that may be offered by districts. However, while current law also allows the option of Social Security, this option is often not as apparent, nor always offered as the other retirement options.”

CFT further states, “new part-time faculty may not be aware of the long-term requirements, benefits, and drawbacks of the retirement benefits they can choose between. In many instances, these workers have accumulated decades of service credit in social security, and may not work as a part-time faculty member long enough so that starting over in a new pension system makes financial sense. AB 2417 brings clarity, ensuring part-timers both have the option of Social Security and a basic understanding of what options they have for retirement planning. The bill accomplished the latter by asking the community college chancellor's office to work with CalSTRS to develop informational materials that cover the financial retirement options available to part-time college faculty. This way, newly employed educators will have the most relevant information at hand so they can make the best-informed decision for their own retirement security.”

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

California Community College Independents
California Federation of Teachers – a Union of Educators & Classified Professionals, AFT, AFL-CIO
California State Council of Service Employees International Union (seiu California)
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges

Opposition

None on file.

Analysis Prepared by: Ellen Cesaretti-Monroy / HIGHER ED. / (916) 319-3960

1. CCC Chancellor’s Office Data Mart – Students – Student Head Count – Academic Year 2024-2025. ↑

2. CCC Chancellor’s Office Data Mart – Faculty & Staff – Annual Statewide Staffing Reports – Salary Distribution by District – 2025. ↑

3. https://information.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2022-113/index.html ↑

4. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billAnalysisClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB2417# ↑

5. https://www.calstrs.com/membership-eligibility#:~:text=You%20may%20be%20eligible%20for%20the%20CalSTRS,to%20school%20curriculum%20development%20*%20Administrative%20duties ↑

Date of Hearing: April 8, 2026

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT AND RETIREMENT

Tina S. McKinnor, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 2417 (

Author:Zbur) – As Introduced Ver:February 20, 2026

SUBJECT: Community colleges: part-time faculty: retirement

SUMMARY: Requires temporary employees who teach adult or community colleges classes for not more than 67 percent of the hours considered to be a full-time assignment, and who perform creditable service in the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) to be provided with membership option in CalSTRS’ Defined Benefit (DB) Program, Cash Balance (CB) Benefit Program, if offered, or social security, among other provisions. Specifically, this bill:

1. Requires the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to work with CalSTRS and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) to develop informational material regarding:
2. The differences between membership and contributions made to the above-described retirement options.
3. Examples covering the amount of time required to vest in benefits offered by those retirement options.
4. Examples of the impact of having credits provided to social security.
5. Provides that the provisions of this bill do not limit a community college district (CCD) from offering an alternative retirement option in addition to those programs.
6. Defines the following terms for these purposes:
7. “DB Program” to have the same meaning pursuant to the Teachers’ Retirement Law (TRL), as specified.
8. “CB Benefit Program” to have the same meaning pursuant to the TRL, as specified.
9. “Creditable service” to have the same meaning as defined, with respect to community colleges, pursuant to the TRL, as specified.
10. “Social security” to mean the federal social security act, as specified.
11. Includes pro forma provisions relating to state mandated costs determined by the Commission on State Mandates and reimbursement to local agencies and schools for those costs.

EXISTING LAW:

Federal

Requires public employers, including community colleges, to provide their employees with either social security coverage or membership in a qualified retirement plan. (Section 11332, Public Law 101-508 (federal Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1990.))^[1]

State

1. Requires, consistent with federal law, that public employers provide employees with coverage by social security or a qualified retirement plan and, among other things requires employers make available criteria for membership, including optional membership, in a timely manner to all persons employed to perform creditable service subject to DB Program coverage, and inform part-time and substitute employees, within 30 days of the date of hire, or by March 1, 1995, whichever is later, that they may elect DB Program membership at any time while employed by written acknowledgment maintained by the employer on a form provided by CalSTRS. (Section 22455.5, Educ. Code.)
2. Provides, among other things, that a person who is employed to teach adult or community college classes for not more than 67 percent of the hours per week considered a full-time assignment for regular employees having comparable duties, must be classified as a temporary employee. (Section 87482.5(a), Educ. Code.)
3. Establishes, among other things, that the boards of a public employee retirement system must discharge their duties with respect to the system solely in the interests of, and for the exclusive purposes of providing benefits to, participants and their beneficiaries, minimizing employer contributions thereto, and defraying reasonable expenses of administering the system. A retirement board’s duty to its participants ad their beneficiaries must take precedence of any other duty. (Section 17, art. XVI, Cal. Const.)
4. Establishes the Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act (PEPRA) of 2013 – a comprehensive reform of public employee retirement that, among other things, increased contributions towards retirement, decreased benefit formulas, and increased the age of retirement that apply to new members of the system first hired on or after January 1, 2013, and made changes that apply to all members towards resolving unfunded liabilities, manipulation of compensation for purposes of calculating a retirement allowance (i.e., pensions spiking), double-dipping, and other prescribed best practice measures. (Sections 7522.02 et seq., Gov. Code.)
5. Establishes the TRL and CalSTRS to provide a financially sound plan for the retirement, with adequate retirement allowances, of teachers in the public schools of this state, teachers in schools supported by this state and persons employed in connection with the schools. (Section 22001, Educ. Code.)
6. Establishes the Public Employees’ Retirement Law and CalPERS to effect economy and efficiency in the public service by providing a means whereby employees who become superannuated or otherwise incapacitated may, without hardship or prejudice, be replaced by more capable employees, and to that end provide a retirement system consisting of retirement compensation and death benefits. (Sections 2000 et seq., Gov. Code.)
7. Establishes the CalSTRS Funding Plan to address the insufficiency of current and projected assets to meet the obligations of the DB Program already accrued or projected to be accrued in the future with respect to services credited to members of that program before July 1, 2014, among other provisions. (Section 22002.5, Edic. Code.)
8. Creates the CalSTRS DB Program, which provides a pension to DB Program members based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement. The DB Program consists of two formulas that apply depending on when the employee was first hired and began performing CalSTRS creditable activities. These formulas are: (i) 2 percent at age 60 (hired on or before December 31, 2012) and, (ii) 2 percent at age 62 (hired on or after January 1, 2013). (Sections 22000 et seq., Educ. Code.)
9. Establishes the CB Benefit Program that, among other things, must comply with applicable provisions of federal and state tax laws. (Section 26001, Educ. Code.)
10. Establishes CalSTRS’ CB Benefit Program for individuals employed by an employer offering this plan, excluding CCDs, to perform creditable service for less than 50 percent of the full-time equivalent for the position, or employed by a CCD offering the CB Benefit Program to perform creditable service on a temporary basis, as prescribed, among other provisions, including related legislative findings and declarations. (Sections 26000 et seq., Educ. Code.)
11. Provides for CalSTRS’ DB Supplement Program, a hybrid CB plan for DB members, that provides additional savings for retirement. (Sections 25000 et seq., Educ. Code.)
12. Requires, with respect to the CB Benefit Program, the employer to make specified information available to the employee within a time certain of the employee’s first day of employment, including the employee’s right to elect other coverage if offered by the employer in lieu of CB Benefit Program participation; the rights and responsibilities of employer and participation in an alternative retirement plan if offered by the employer, and the benefits payable under an alternative retirement plan if offered by the employer. (Section 26300, Educ. Code.)
13. Provides that, any person who is not already a DB Program member who is employed to perform creditable service by an employer that provides the CB Benefit Program must become a participant in the CB Benefit Program, if they are not excluded from DB Program participation because they are employed by an employer, excluding a CCD, to perform creditable service on a part-time basis for less than 50 percent of the time the employer requires for the full-time position, or on substitute, part-time hourly or daily basis, among other provisions. In addition, if the employer’s governing board’s action to provide the CB Benefit Program gives employees the right to elect coverage by federal social security or an alternative retirement plan the employer offers in addition to the CB Benefit Program, the employee may elect federal coverage or the ARP in lieu of participating in the CB Benefit Program. (Section 26400, Educ. Code.)
14. Governs collective bargaining in the private sector under the federal National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), but leaves it to the states to regulate collective bargaining in their respective public sectors. (Sections 151 et seq., Title 29, United States Code.) While the NLRA and the decisions of its National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) often provide persuasive precedent in interpreting state collective bargaining law, public employees have no collective bargaining rights absent specific statutory authority establishing those rights.
15. Provides several statutory frameworks under California law to provide public employees collective bargaining rights, govern public employer-employee relations, and limit labor strife and economic disruption in the public sector through a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between public employers and recognized public employee organizations or their exclusive representatives. Among these statutes, the Educational Employment Relations Act governing employment relations for K-12 public schools and community colleges. (Sections 3540 et seq., Gov. Code.)
16. Establishes the PERB, a quasi-judicial administrative agency charged with administering various statutory frameworks governing employer-employee relations, resolving disputes, and enforcing the statutory duties and rights of public agency employers, employees, and employee organizations, but provides the City and County of Los Angeles a local alternative to PERB oversight. (Sections 3541 et seq., Gov. Code.)

FISCAL EFFECT: This bill is flagged as fiscal by Legislative Counsel.

COMMENTS: The committee is informed that this bill is also referred to the Assembly Committee on Higher Education. As such, this writing only discusses matters that are germane to the jurisdiction of this committee and defers to the Assembly Committee on Higher Education to discuss matters that are specifically germane to its jurisdiction.

Among other things, information provided by the author states, “[t]he California Community Colleges have a large reliance on the work of part-time faculty members, who provide educational services to students across the state. Many of these educators are teaching after their lives as private sector workers, bringing that experience with them into the classrooms. As private sector workers, they contributed into their retirement security through the United States Social Security system. Once these workers have accepted employment at a [CCD] they are provided several retirement benefit options, including options through CalSTRS and other retirement products. Not every district offers social security to these new employees as a retirement option, however; and workers who aren’t planning on teaching long enough to vest in a pension or effectively fund another retirement plan may be better served by continuing to fund more credit in their social security benefit.

“Current law requires districts to offer the CalSTRS defined benefit plan, and permissively offer other CalSTRS options or other retirement benefits like the [Accumulation Program for Part-time and Limited-service Employees (APPLE)] plan, which is a 401(a) retirement alternative to social security. Social security itself however is not mandated to be offered. Educators have been among the people most profoundly affected by [the] WEP. [The] WEP has historically dissuaded career changers from considering teaching if their previous job did pay into social security, because those individuals could lose up to 50 percent of the social security benefit they earned in their first line of work. The repeal of [the] WEP in 2025 returned power to plan financially for retirement to those also interested in becoming educators. Given the recent federal changes, teachers – particularly part-time faculty – may or may not be aware of exactly what retirement benefits they are owed and can choose between. [This bill] moves the needle, ensuring educators both have the option of Social Security; and understand exactly what options they have, including social security, for retirement planning.”

Federal Action Regarding Social Security: The Federal Social Security Fairness Act of 2023

Public Law 118-273 (H.R. 82), also known as the federal Social Security Fairness Act of 2023, repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) that reduced or eliminated social security benefits for individuals who receive a pension based on work that was not covered by social security because they did not pay Social Security taxes. Among other workers, the Social Security Fairness Act benefits certain types of employees, including teachers, firefighters, and police officers in many states.

This reform was aimed at providing equitable benefits to public employees who, historically, have been disadvantaged by working in certain public employment careers, but have contributed to their communities throughout their careers. The elimination of the WEP and GPO ensures that these workers receive full benefits upon retirement.

CalSTRS Retirement Plans

CalSTRS administers a hybrid retirement system consisting of traditional DB benefits, cash balance, and a voluntary defined contribution plan, as discussed below.

CalSTRS administers a DB Program that provides a lifetime monthly benefit upon attaining a combination of the requisite minimum years of age and service for retirement, commonly referred to as “vesting” or “vested.” Consisting of a combination of contributions from the State, employer, and employee, this benefit has varying formulas depending on when the employee began performing CalSTRS creditable service activities. The varying formulas, consisting of two, are a result of legislative enactment of the PEPRA. Regarding DB contribution rates, the employer contributes an amount equal to approximately 19.10 percent of the employee’s creditable compensation, and the State contributes approximately 8.328 percent of CalSTRS members’ annual creditable compensation, as well as approximately 2.5 percent of CalSTRS members’ earnings to pay for purchasing power protection.^[2] Depending on what formula applies to the employee, employees contribute approximately 10.25 percent (for the 2 percent at 60 formula), or 10.205 percent (for the 2 percent at 62 formula) of their creditable earnings. Mandatory DB Program membership depends on the employee’s status, the type of employer and, in some cases, whether the employer offers the CB Benefit Program. However, temporary and adjunct employees are excluded from mandatory membership.

CalSTRS’ CB Program is a DB Supplement (DBS) where the employer’s and employee’s contributions on eligible earnings are credited to the employee’s DBS account. This account accrues guaranteed interest and, when the CalSTRS Board declares, additional earnings credits. When the employee retires, they are eligible to receive a lump-sum payment or annuity based on the total account balance. This DBS Program is a cash balance plan for DB Program members for earnings in excess of one year in a school year and other specific compensation. CalSTRS’ Cash Balance CB Program also is a retirement plan that employers can offer part-time educators, or another eligible retirement plan, as an alternative to the DB Program or social security.

CalSTRS’ Defined Contribution (DC) Plan, also called “Pension2,” offers 403(b), 457(b), Roth 403(b), and Roth 457(b) investment plans for additional income in retirement. Open to all school employees, the amount an employee has at retirement depends on their contributions, investment gains and losses, and expenses. Typically, employees contribute 4 percent of their salary, and the employer must contribute an amount equal to at least 4 percent of the employee’s salary.

CalSTRS and Social Security

Historically, California public educators who contribute to CalSTRS (and more specifically, it DB Program) do not pay into social security. When they retire, they will not receive social security benefits for their CalSTRS-covered employment. However, they may be eligible to receive a benefit through other employment or their spouse. A district must offer social security to its part-time or temporary employees if it does not offer an alternative eligible retirement plan. As previously discussed, the federal Social Security Fairness Act became law on January 5, 2025. However, neither CalSTRS nor the state have control over eligibility requirements or social security benefit calculations.

Under current law, a person who is a temporary employee at a community college is not mandated to participate in CalSTRS’ DB Program. Instead, they can permissively elect to join the DB Program or choose to participate in an alternative retirement plan, including the CB Benefit Program, if offered by the employer. To offer the CB Benefit Program, an employer’s governing board must elect to do so. Some, but not all, CCDs offer as an alternative retirement plan. Further, under existing law,^[3] employers must notify an employee who has a right to make a retirement system election of their right to make such an election within 10 working days of the date of hire, including providing written information provided by each retirement system concerning the benefits provided under that retirement system to assist the employee in making an election.  Further, employers that offer the CB Benefit Program must make information regarding the DB and CB Benefit programs available within 10 working days of specified dates.^[4]

CalSTRS and CalPERS

Generally, a CalSTRS DB Program member who became employed by the same or a different school district, CCD, county office of education or certain employment by the State to perform services that requires membership in CalPERS, may elect to continue CalSTRS coverage, and service in the new position will be treated as creditable service under the CalSTRS DB Program. Making this election is subject to: (i) being completed with 60 days of the date of hire in the new position; (ii) being done on the appropriate CalSTRS form provided by the employer and received by CalSTRS within 60 days of the signature date; (iii) being effective as of the date of hire into the new position, and (iv) being irrevocable and applies to all service for that position.

Certain CalPERS members who subsequently are employed in a position that requires CalSTRS membership can elect to continue CalPERS coverage for all subsequent CalSTRS-creditable service. This applies to CalPERS members employed by one or more of the following: (i) a school district; (ii) California Community College Board of Governors; (iii) California Department of Education (as of January 1, 2002), and (iv) a CalPERS and CalSTRS participating charter school.

CalPERS members who are employed full-time and accept part-time, temporary employment to perform creditable service covered by CalSTRS’ DB Program can permissively elect membership in CalSTRS and have their part-time service reported to CalSTRS.

This Bill

Recall that under federal law, public employers, including community colleges, must provide their employees with either social security coverage or membership in a qualified retirement plan. The Teachers’ Retirement Law also is consistent with that federal law in this regard. (Section 22455.5, Educ. Code.) Further, as previously discussed, CalSTRS administers several qualified retirement plans for its members, and participation in any of those plans is subject to certain specified requirements consistent with state and federal laws. However, since CalSTRS administers the various retirement plan options, and a CCD is already required to avail its employees with either social security coverage or membership in a CalSTRS qualified retirement plan, this bill proposes to bridge the information gap following recent changes in federal law regarding social security.

Author’s Statement

“Part-time community college faculty, who bring real-world experience and in-field expertise into the classroom, face significant inequities compared to their full-time counterparts. One of the most consequential gaps is in retirement information and options. Many part-time faculty who have spent decades contributing to social security are not informed about how to continue or strengthen those benefits, or how those benefits compare to enrolling in a different retirement system. Compounding the issue, not all community college districts even offer social security as an option, nor do they consistently provide clear, side-by-side information about available retirement choices. This bill ensures that every part-time faculty member is given complete, transparent information about their retirement options—and the opportunity to continue contributing to social security if they choose. Workers deserve the information they need to make the best financial decisions for themselves and their families. Providing that clarity empowers educators to plan for a secure and stable future.”

Comments by Supporters

Among other things, the several supporters express, “[p]art-time community college faculty are often individuals who have chosen to give back to their communities by becoming educators in their local community college districts after long careers in the private sector. Most private sector jobs accumulate credit in the social security system. Upon the start of employment with a community college district, the new educator will be provided with several options for their retirement plan, including the [CalSTRS] pension, CalSTRS [CB Benefit Program] if offered, and several other options that may be offered by districts. However, while current law also allows the option of social security, this option is often not as apparent, nor always offered as the other retirement options. New part-time faculty may not be aware of the long-term requirements, benefits, and drawbacks of the retirement benefits they can choose between. In many instances, these workers have accumulated decades of service credit in social security, and may not work as a part-time faculty member long enough so that starting over in a new pension system makes financial sense. [This bill] brings clarity, ensuring part-timers both have the option of social security and a basic understanding of what options they have for retirement planning.”

Comments by Opponents

None on file.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

California Federation of Teachers – a Union of Educators & Classified Professionals, AFT,

AFL-CIO (Sponsor)

California Community College Independent

California School Employees Association
California State Council of Service Employees International Union

Opposition

None on file.

Analysis Prepared by: Michael Bolden / P. E. & R. / (916) 319-3957

1. Section 11332, Public Law 101-508 (Federal Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1990). This federal law mandates social security coverage for government employees who are neither members of a qualified retirement system or not covered under a “Section 218 Agreement” (a voluntary agreement between the State and the Social Security Administration to provide Social Security and Hospital Insurance or other specified coverage for state and local employees pursuant to Section 218 of the federal Social Security Act), unless coverage is specifically excluded by law. ↑

2. Purchasing power protection is a built-in protection against inflation, also referred to as inflation protection, to help ensure quality of living during retirement. ↑

3. Section 22509, Educ. Code. ↑

4. Section 26300, Educ. Code. ↑