Section 53217.10 Of Article 1.5. Pension Trusts From California Government Code >> Division 2. >> Title 5. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 2. >> Article 1.5.
53217.10
. (a) On or after January 1, 2003, a member who is credited
with less than the number of years of service required for vesting
shall have the right to elect to leave accumulated contributions on
deposit in the local agency's retirement fund. Failure to make an
election to withdraw accumulated contributions shall be deemed an
election to leave accumulated contributions on deposit in the
retirement fund.
(b) An election to allow accumulated contributions to remain in
the retirement fund may be revoked by the member at any time except:
(1) while the member is employed in service in a position in which
the member is not excluded from membership in the local system
retirement fund with respect to that service; (2) while the member is
in service as a member of public retirement system supported, in
whole or in part, by state funds; or (3) while the member is in
service, entered within six months after discontinuing county
service, as a member of a reciprocal retirement system. All
accumulated contributions contributed up to the time of revocation
may then be withdrawn.
(c) A member whose membership continues under this section is
subject to the same age, service, and disability requirements as
apply to other members for service or disability retirement. After
the qualification of the member for retirement by reason of age,
which shall be the lowest age applicable to any membership category
in which the member has credited service, disability, the member
shall be entitled to receive a retirement allowance based upon the
amount of the member's accumulated contributions and service standing
to the member's credit at the time of retirement and on the employer
contributions held for the member and calculated in the same manner
as for other members.
(d) Service, solely for purposes of meeting minimum service
qualifications for service or disability retirement, shall also
include service credited as an employee of a reciprocal system when
the member retires concurrently from all reciprocal retirement
systems. A member whose combined service from all reciprocal
retirement systems does not meet the minimum service qualifications
may not receive a service or disability retirement from this system.
(e) For purposes of this section, "accumulated contributions"
means the sum of all member contributions standing to the credit of a
member's individual account, and interest thereon.
(f) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this section
to recognize that the state has a compelling interest in ensuring
that its public agencies recruit and retain the highest caliber of
public employees by allowing local public employees to retain the
service credit that they earned through their service as local public
employees in order to encourage them to return to public employment
and continue to serve the public.