Article 8.5. Group Insurance of California Government Code >> Division 4. >> Title 3. >> Part 3. >> Chapter 3. >> Article 8.5.

(a) The board of supervisors of any county by ordinance, or the governing body of any district under the County Employees Retirement Law, by ordinance or resolution, may provide for the contribution by the county or district from its funds and not from the retirement fund, toward the payment of all or a portion of the premiums on a policy or certificate of life insurance or disability insurance issued by an admitted insurer, or toward the payment of all or part of the consideration for any hospital service or medical service corporation, including any corporation lawfully operating under Section 9201 of the Corporations Code, contract, or for any combination thereof, for the benefit of any member heretofore or hereafter retired or his or her dependents. At least one of these plans shall include free choice of physician and surgeon.
  (b) The benefits provided by this section are in addition to any other benefits provided by this chapter.
  (c) The board of retirement may provide on behalf of a member who has retired, or an eligible surviving spouse who was married to the member for one year prior to the date of retirement of the member, or, if there is no such spouse, the surviving unmarried children of the member who are under 18 years of age, or under 22 years of age and full-time students, for the hospital and medical benefits enumerated in subdivision (a) from the earnings of the retirement fund that are in excess of the total interest credited to contributions and reserves plus 1 percent of the total assets of the retirement fund. The board may provide for the benefits enumerated from like sources when the board of supervisors or the governing body of a district has elected to provide these benefits to its active employees, even though the benefits are not provided to those who have retired from the service of the county or district. Hospital and medical benefits provided under this section shall be provided in compliance with Section 401(h) of Title 26 of the United States Code. They may also be provided in compliance with Section 31592.2.
  (d) Except in a county of the first class, upon adoption by any county providing benefits pursuant to this section, that has adopted Article 5.5 (commencing with Section 31610), the Supplemental Retiree Benefits Reserve established pursuant to Section 31618 shall be substituted for the excess earnings described in subdivision (c).

(a) In lieu of the benefits prescribed by Section 31691, the board of retirement may provide on behalf of a member who has retired, or an eligible surviving spouse who was married to the member prior to the date of retirement of the member, or, if there is no such spouse, the surviving unmarried children of the member who are under 18 years of age, or under 22 years of age and full-time students, for an equivalent increase in allowance from the earnings of the retirement fund that are in excess of the total interest credited to contributions and reserves plus 1 percent of the total assets of the retirement fund. Any benefit provided by this section shall be subject to Section 31692.
  (b) Except in a county of the first class, upon adoption by any county providing benefits pursuant to this section that has adopted Article 5.5 (commencing with Section 31610), the board of retirement shall, instead, pay those benefits from the Supplemental Retiree Benefits Reserve established pursuant to Section 31618.

The board of retirement in a county of the first class may permit active members and their dependents to enroll in any plan authorized in Section 31691. The board shall have exclusive control over the plan benefits and administration to the same degree and to the same extent it otherwise has control over plan benefits and administration for retired members, and may recover reasonable administrative costs from the county or plan participants. This section shall not be operative until the board of supervisors, by resolution adopted by a majority vote, makes this section applicable in the county.

The adoption of an ordinance or resolution pursuant to Section 31691 shall give no vested right to any member or retired member, and the board of supervisors or the governing body of the district may amend or repeal the ordinance or resolution at any time except that as to any member who is retired at the time of such an amendment or repeal, the amendment or repeal shall not be operative until ninety (90) days after the board or governing body notifies the member in writing of the amendment or repeal. In counties with a population of 5,000,000 or more, the adoption of an ordinance or resolution pursuant to Section 31691 shall remain in effect for any member heretofore or hereafter retired for as long as the board of supervisors or governing body provides similar types of benefits to any active member in current county service.

In any county, district, or county retirement system providing benefits under this article, the county, district, or county retirement system shall provide any recognized retiree organization, as defined in Section 31471.5, that is recognized by the retirement system of the county or district as representing the retired employees of that county or district reasonable advance notice of any proposed changes in employee health care benefits affecting those retired employees and the organization shall have a reasonable opportunity to comment prior to any formal action by the county, district, or county retirement system on the proposed changes. As used in this section, "proposed changes" means significant changes affecting health care benefits, including, but not limited to, changes in health care carriers, plan design, and premiums.