Article 8. Fund of California Government Code >> Title 8. >> Chapter 11.5. >> Article 8.

There is in the State Treasury, subject to the control of the board, a trust fund known as the Judges' Retirement System II Fund. The fund shall receive all assets paid into it including, without limitation, judges' contributions made pursuant to Sections 75601 and 75602 and the state's contributions made pursuant to Section 75600.5. All retirement allowances payable by law to judges to whom this chapter is applicable shall be paid from that fund. Notwithstanding Section 13340, all moneys in the fund are continuously appropriated without regard to fiscal years, for payments which shall be made upon warrants drawn by the Controller upon demands made by the board.

(a) The Controller shall at the end of each month ascertain the aggregate amount of the annual salaries, not including the additional compensation pursuant to Section 68203.1, of all judges covered by the Judges' Retirement System II, and out of the General Fund he or she shall transfer monthly into the Judges' Retirement System II Fund a sum equal to 18.8 percent of one-twelfth of the aggregate amount of those salaries.
  (b) As of June 30 of the first year this chapter is in effect, and annually thereafter, the board shall make an actuarial investigation into the fund's experience, the ages of member judges, and other facts necessary to determine the actuarial soundness of the fund. Based on its investigation, the board shall determine the state contribution necessary to maintain or restore the actuarial soundness of the fund, stated as a percentage of judges' salaries.
  (c) The state's contribution as fixed under this chapter shall be adjusted thereafter from time to time in the annual Budget Act according to the following method. As part of the proposed budget submitted pursuant to Section 12 of Article IV of the California Constitution, the Governor shall include the contribution rate submitted by the board pursuant to subdivision (b). The Legislature shall adopt the contribution rate and authorize the appropriation in the Budget Act.

Except as provided in Section 75605, the Controller shall at the end of each month deduct 8 percent from the monthly salary, not including the additional compensation pursuant to Section 68203.1, of each justice of the Supreme Court and of the courts of appeal and of the portion paid by the state of the monthly salary of each judge of the superior court and shall cause this amount to be paid into the Judges' Retirement System II Fund.

Except as provided in Section 75605, the Controller or the auditor of each county shall deduct 8 percent from the portion paid by a county, or the Controller and the auditor, if appropriate, of the monthly salary, not including the additional compensation pursuant to Section 68203.1, of each judge of the superior court and cause this amount to be paid into the Judges' Retirement System II Fund.

The Legislature reserves the right to increase the rates of contribution prescribed by Sections 75601 and 75602 in the amounts as it may find appropriate.

The Legislature reserves the right to reduce any benefits applicable to any person who becomes a judge who is subject to this chapter.

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the state and the county may pick up, for the sole purpose of deferring income taxes thereon, as authorized by Section 414(h)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C.A. Sec. 414(h)(2)) and Section 17501 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, all of the normal contributions required to be deducted under Sections 75601 and 75602, inclusive, and paid into the Judges' Retirement System II Fund. The payments shall be reported as employer-paid normal contributions and shall be credited to the judge's account.
  (b) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the authority of the state or the county to periodically eliminate the pickup by the state of all of the normal contributions required to be paid by a judge, as authorized by this section.
  (c) This section shall not affect the computation of a judge's retirement allowance pursuant to this chapter.

Calculations of retirement benefits and monetary credit under this chapter for any judge in the Voluntary Waiver of Salary Program, as described in paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) of Section 68106, shall include salary and contributions that would have been paid had the judge not been in the program. The state shall pay the costs that result from the increased benefits and monetary credits.

(a) A judge who has filed a declaration of candidacy for election or reelection to a judicial office may not withdraw his or her contributions under Section 75520 until after the election. If a judge is elected or reelected to a judicial office, he or she may not withdraw the contributions until that time as the judge has declined to accept the office or has ceased to hold the office to which he or she has been elected.
  (b) A judge who has been appointed, commissioned, or nominated to a judicial office of this state may not withdraw his or her contributions under Section 75520 until the judge has declined to serve or terminated his or her service in the latter office.

The board may invest the money contained in the Judges' Retirement System II Fund in the same manner and subject to the same restrictions as investments of the Public Employees' Retirement Fund.

The Treasurer is the custodian of the Judges' Retirement System II Fund. At the end of each month the board shall ascertain the written notices of voluntary retirement and the written certificates of involuntary retirement that have been filed with the Judges' Retirement System II and cause warrants to be drawn upon the State Treasury in favor of each retired judge for the amount of the retirement allowance to which he or she is entitled.

A retired judge or the surviving spouse of a judge, entitled to receive an allowance pursuant to this chapter, may authorize deductions to be made from the allowance, in accordance with regulations established for the payment of group insurance premiums and other premiums provided for under Section 1157, as well as shares or obligations of any regularly chartered credit union.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all expenses of administration of this article shall be paid by appropriation from the Judges' Retirement System II Fund.

If the board determines that there has been an overpayment of contributions or that any amount not required to be paid under this chapter has been paid by a judge, the board shall refund the amount of the overpayment or excess payment to the judge. So much money as may be necessary is hereby appropriated from the Judges' Retirement System II Fund to the board for the purpose of making refunds pursuant to this section.

(a) When there has been a payment of death benefits, a return of accumulated contributions, a contribution adjustment, or a deposit of contributions, this system may refrain from collecting an underpayment of accumulated contributions if the amount to be collected is two hundred fifty dollars ($250) or less.
  (b) Notwithstanding Section 75611, when there has been a payment of death benefits, a return of accumulated contributions, a contribution adjustment, or a deposit of contributions, and there is a balance of fifty dollars ($50) or less remaining posted to a member' s individual account, or an overpayment of fifty dollars ($50) or less was received, this system may dispense with a return of accumulated contributions.
  (c) When there is a positive or negative balance of two hundred fifty dollars ($250) or less remaining posted to a member's individual account, or the balance exceeds two hundred fifty dollars ($250) but the difference to the monthly allowance unmodified by any optional settlement is less than five dollars ($5), this system may dispense with any recalculation of, or other adjustment to, benefit payments.
  (d) The dollar amounts specified in subdivisions (a) and (c) shall be adjusted in accordance with any changes in the dollar amounts specified in Section 13943.2.

(a) The board may assess a county a reasonable amount to cover costs incurred because of the county's failure to submit reports within 30 days of the date the reports are due. The payments of the assessments shall be credited to the Judges' Retirement System II Fund.
  (b) The board may charge interest on the amount of any payment due and unpaid by a county until payment is received. Interest shall be charged at a rate approximating the average rate received on moneys then being invested. The interest charged shall be deemed interest earnings in the year in which received.

(a) Whenever a person entitled to payment of a member's contributions or any other benefit fails to claim the payment or cannot be located or a warrant in payment is canceled pursuant to Section 17070, the amount owed from the Judges' Retirement System II Fund shall be administered pursuant to subdivision (c).
  (b) Whenever the amount of a benefit payable by this program cannot be determined because the recipient cannot be identified or information necessary to determination of the benefit to be paid cannot be ascertained, the contributions of the member on whose account the benefit is payable shall be administered pursuant to subdivision (c).
  (c) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the amounts described in subdivisions (a) and (b) shall be held, or if a warrant has been drawn the warrant shall be redeposited in the fund and held for the claimant without accumulation of interest, and the redeposit shall not operate to reinstate the membership of the person with respect to whose membership the refund or benefit was payable in this system. If the proceeds, whether heretofore or hereafter redeposited, are not claimed within four years after the date of the redeposit, they shall revert to and become a part of the fund. Transfer to the fund shall be made as of the June 30 next following the expiration of the four-year period.
  (d) The board may at any time after transfer of proceeds to the fund upon receipt of proper information satisfactory to it, return the proceeds to the credit of the claimant, to be administered in the manner provided under this system.