California 2023-2024 Regular Session Status: Enacted 1 D cosponsors

AB 1997 — Teachers' Retirement Law.

Last action — Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 690, Statutes of 2024.

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  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. ✓
    Passed Assembly
  4. ✓
    Passed Senate
  5. ✓
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced January 30, 2024. Enacted.

Signed by Governor Gavin Newsom (Democratic) on September 27, 2024.

Prognosis

Likely to advance 72% · moderate confidence

Where this bill stands today.

Odds of enactment

High

How often bills like it became law.

  • Enacted

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 1 sponsor

    1 primary, 0 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Single-party support

    Sponsorship is currently within one party (1 D).

  • Cleared a recorded vote

    Passed 7 recorded votes so far.

Prognosis reads this bill's own signals — stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes and cross-state momentum. Odds come from a model trained on which bills have become law.

Summary

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, creditable service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. STRS is administered by the Teachers' Retirement Board. Existing law requires employers and employees to make contributions to the system based on the member's creditable compensation. Existing law defines terms for the purposes of STRS. Existing law defines "annualized pay rate" to mean the salary or wages, as described, a person could earn during a school term for an assignment if creditable service were performed for that assignment on a full-time basis. Existing law establishes a pay rate when creditable service is not performed on a full-time basis because a member is performing activities pursuant to specified law. This bill would redefine "annualized pay rate" to mean the salary, as described, a person could earn during a school term in a position subject to membership if creditable service were performed for that position on a full-time basis, to be determined pursuant to a publicly available pay schedule by a prescribed method. The bill, if no annualized pay rate exists for a position subject to membership, would deem all compensation earned in that position "supplemental pay," as prescribed. Existing law defines "compensation earnable" for these calculations to be the sum of the average annualized pay rate, determined as the quotient obtained when salary or wages, as described, paid in a school year is divided by the service credited for that school year and remuneration that is paid in addition to salary or wages for the school year, as prescribed. This bill would revise the definition of "compensation earnable" to be the sum of the average annualized pay rate, determined as the quotient obtained when salary earned in a school year is divided by the service credited for that salary and special pay, as prescribed. Existing law defines "creditable compensation" to mean cash payments from an employer to all persons in the same class of employees for performing creditable service in that position of salary or wages pursuant to contract and remuneration that is paid in addition to salary or wages, as prescribed. Existing law alternatively defines "creditable compensation" for members who are subject to the California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013, as prescribed. This bill would repeal both of those provisions and redefine "creditable compensation" to mean cash remuneration that includes base pay and supplemental pay, as prescribed. Existing law defines "creditable service" to mean specified activities relating to education performed for employers, including specified K–12 employers, community college employers, and charter school employers. This bill would redefine "creditable service" to mean service in a position subject to membership. The bill would for this purpose define "position subject to membership" to mean prescribed positions at various educational institutions. The bill would also include in that definition certain positions in which a member performed creditable service before the operative date of the added definition of "position subject to membership," provided that the same member remains continuously employed to perform service in that position on and after that date. Existing law establishes alternate definitions for "credited service" for members based on whether they are subject to the California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA) . This bill would instead define "credited service" to mean service for which the required contributions have been paid and service for which required contributions would have been paid in absence of prescribed limits. Existing law defines "service" to means work performed for compensation in a position subject to coverage under the defined benefit program, except as otherwise specifically provided in existing law, providing the contributions on compensation for that work are not credited to a defined benefit supplement program. This bill would redefine "service" to mean work performed for compensation, except as otherwise specifically provided in existing law. Existing law establishes a cap on the amount of compensation that is taken into account in computing benefits payable for a member who first joins the program on or after July 1, 1996. This bill would additionally specify a cap for a member subject to PEPRA. Existing law provides for the computation of service to be credited for service performed before July 1, 1972, or on or after July 1, 1972. This bill would provide for the computation of service to be credited for service performed on or after a date determined by the board as described below. This bill would require the board to determine a date when STRS has the capacity to implement the above-described changes and to post the date on the STRS internet website no later than July 1, 2027. The bill would make those provisions with the changes operative on the date determined by the board, would make the existing provisions inoperative on that same date, and would repeal those existing provisions on July 1, 2027. The bill would provide that the changes are consistent with prescribed principles that support the integrity of the retirement fund. The bill would require the board to adopt regulations to the extent required in order to continue to administer the bill accordingly. Existing law creates the Teachers' Retirement Fund, which is continuously appropriated for specified purposes, into which certain moneys are deposited, including employee contributions. By making the changes to creditable compensation that affect contributions to the fund, the bill would make an appropriation.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 690, Statutes of 2024.

  2. Approved by the Governor.

  3. Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.

  4. In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling.

  5. Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0.).

  6. Ordered to special consent calendar.

  7. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  8. From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 15).

  9. In committee: Referred to suspense file.

  10. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 12). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  11. Referred to Com. on L., P.E. & R.

  12. In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.

  13. Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 72. Noes 0. Page 5410.)

  14. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  15. From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (May 16).

  16. In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file.

  17. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 3). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  18. Re-referred to Com. on P.E. & R.

  19. From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P.E. & R. Read second time and amended.

  20. Re-referred to Com. on P.E. & R.

  21. From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P.E. & R. Read second time and amended.

  22. Referred to Com. on P.E. & R.

  23. From printer. May be heard in committee March 1.

  24. Read first time. To print.

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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1 sponsors · 0 co-sponsors · 121 not signed on

Sponsors (1)

Co-sponsors (0)

None.

Not signed on (121)

121 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 121 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Votes

Special Consent

Passed 39 Yea · 0 Nay · 1 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 22000
Unaffiliated 11000
Republican 6001
Total 39001
% of votes cast 98%0%0%3%
How each member voted (40)
Member Party Vote
Glazer — Yea
Dodd — Yea
Bradford — Yea
Skinner — Yea
Roth — Yea
Atkins — Yea
Portantino — Yea
Newman — Yea
Min — Yea
Wilk — Yea
Eggman — Yea
Allen, Benjamin Democratic Yea
Archuleta, Bob Democratic Yea
Ashby, Angelique V. Democratic Yea
Becker, Josh Democratic Yea
Blakespear, Catherine S. Democratic Yea
Caballero, Anna M. Democratic Yea
Cortese, Dave Democratic Yea
Durazo, Maria Elena Democratic Yea
Gonzalez, Lena A. Democratic Yea
Hurtado, Melissa Democratic Yea
Laird, John Democratic Yea
Limón, Monique Democratic Yea
McGuire, Mike Democratic Yea
Menjivar, Caroline Democratic Yea
Nguyen, Stephanie Democratic Yea
Padilla, Stephen C. Democratic Yea
Rubio, Susan Democratic Yea
Smallwood-Cuevas, Lola Democratic Yea
Stern, Henry I. Democratic Yea
Umberg, Thomas J. Democratic Yea
Wahab, Aisha Democratic Yea
Wiener, Scott D. Democratic Yea
Alvarado-Gil, Marie Republican Not Voting
Dahle, Megan Republican Yea
Grove, Shannon Republican Yea
Jones, Brian W. Republican Yea
Niello, Roger W. Republican Yea
Ochoa Bogh, Rosilicie Republican Yea
Seyarto, Kelly Republican Yea

Official roll call →

AB 1997 McKinnor Assembly Third Reading

Passed 72 Yea · 0 Nay · 8 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 45002
Republican 11002
Unaffiliated 16004
Total 72008
% of votes cast 90%0%0%10%
How each member voted (80)
Member Party Vote
Maienschein — Yea
Rodriguez — Yea
Villapudua — Yea
Ting — Yea
Jones-Sawyer — Yea
McCarty — Yea
Rendon — Yea
Wood — Yea
Low — Yea
Essayli — Yea
Waldron — Yea
Santiago — Yea
Holden — Not Voting
Friedman — Not Voting
Mathis — Not Voting
Eduardo Garcia — Yea
Jim Patterson — Yea
Luz Rivas — Not Voting
Vince Fong — Yea
Wendy Carrillo — Yea
Addis, Dawn Democratic Yea
Aguiar-Curry, Cecilia M. Democratic Yea
Alvarez, David Democratic Yea
Arambula, Joaquin Democratic Yea
Bains, Jasmeet Democratic Yea
Bauer-Kahan, Rebecca Democratic Yea
Bennett, Steve Democratic Yea
Berman, Marc Democratic Yea
Boerner, Tasha Democratic Yea
Bonta, Mia Democratic Yea
Bryan, Isaac G. Democratic Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Carrillo, Juan Democratic Yea
Cervantes, Sabrina Democratic Not Voting
Connolly, Damon Democratic Yea
Fong, Mike Democratic Yea
Gabriel, Jesse Democratic Not Voting
Gipson, Mike A. Democratic Yea
Grayson, Timothy S. Democratic Yea
Haney, Matt Democratic Yea
Hart, Gregg Democratic Yea
Irwin, Jacqui Democratic Yea
Jackson, Corey A. Democratic Yea
Kalra, Ash Democratic Yea
Lee, Alex Democratic Yea
Lowenthal, Josh Democratic Yea
McKinnor, Tina Democratic Yea
Muratsuchi, Al Democratic Yea
Nguyen, Stephanie Democratic Yea
Ortega, Liz Democratic Yea
Pacheco, Blanca Democratic Yea
Papan, Diane Democratic Yea
Pellerin, Gail Democratic Yea
Petrie-Norris, Cottie Democratic Yea
Quirk-Silva, Sharon Democratic Yea
Ramos, James C. Democratic Yea
Reyes, Eloise Gómez Democratic Yea
Rivas, Robert Democratic Yea
Rubio, Blanca E. Democratic Yea
Schiavo, Pilar Democratic Yea
Soria, Esmeralda Democratic Yea
Valencia, Avelino Democratic Yea
Ward, Christopher M. Democratic Yea
Weber Pierson, M.D., Akilah Democratic Yea
Wicks, Buffy Democratic Yea
Wilson, Lori D. Democratic Yea
Zbur, Rick Chavez Democratic Yea
Alanis, Juan Republican Yea
Chen, Phillip Republican Yea
Dahle, Megan Republican Not Voting
Davies, Laurie Republican Yea
Dixon, Diane Republican Not Voting
Flora, Heath Republican Yea
Gallagher, James Republican Yea
Hoover, Josh Republican Yea
Lackey, Tom Republican Yea
Patterson, Joe Republican Yea
Sanchez, Kate Republican Yea
Ta, Tri Republican Yea
Wallis, Greg Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Do pass.

Passed 14 Yea · 0 Nay · 1 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 9000
Unaffiliated 3000
Republican 2001
Total 14001
% of votes cast 93%0%0%7%
How each member voted (15)
Member Party Vote
Villapudua — Yea
Jim Patterson — Yea
Wendy Carrillo — Yea
Arambula, Joaquin Democratic Yea
Bryan, Isaac G. Democratic Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Fong, Mike Democratic Yea
Grayson, Timothy S. Democratic Yea
Haney, Matt Democratic Yea
Hart, Gregg Democratic Yea
Pellerin, Gail Democratic Yea
Wicks, Buffy Democratic Yea
Dixon, Diane Republican Not Voting
Sanchez, Kate Republican Yea
Ta, Tri Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Subjects

finance labor education
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Frequently asked questions

What does AB 1997 do?
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, creditable service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. STRS is administered by the Teachers' Retirement Board. Existing law requires employers and employees to make contributions to the system based on the member's creditable compensation. Existing law defines terms for the purposes of STRS. Existing law defines "annualized pay rate" to mean the salary or wages, as described, a person could earn during a school term for an assignment if creditable service were performed for that assignment on a full-time basis. Existing law establishes a pay rate when creditable service is not performed on a full-time basis because a member is performing activities pursuant to specified law. This bill would redefine "annualized pay rate" to mean the salary, as described, a person could earn during a school term in a position subject to membership if creditable service were performed for that position on a full-time basis, to be determined pursuant to a publicly available pay schedule by a prescribed method. The bill, if no annualized pay rate exists for a position subject to membership, would deem all compensation earned in that position "supplemental pay," as prescribed. Existing law defines "compensation earnable" for these calculations to be the sum of the average annualized pay rate, determined as the quotient obtained when salary or wages, as described, paid in a school year is divided by the service credited for that school year and remuneration that is paid in addition to salary or wages for the school year, as prescribed. This bill would revise the definition of "compensation earnable" to be the sum of the average annualized pay rate, determined as the quotient obtained when salary earned in a school year is divided by the service credited for that salary and special pay, as prescribed. Existing law defines "creditable compensation" to mean cash payments from an employer to all persons in the same class of employees for performing creditable service in that position of salary or wages pursuant to contract and remuneration that is paid in addition to salary or wages, as prescribed. Existing law alternatively defines "creditable compensation" for members who are subject to the California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013, as prescribed. This bill would repeal both of those provisions and redefine "creditable compensation" to mean cash remuneration that includes base pay and supplemental pay, as prescribed. Existing law defines "creditable service" to mean specified activities relating to education performed for employers, including specified K–12 employers, community college employers, and charter school employers. This bill would redefine "creditable service" to mean service in a position subject to membership. The bill would for this purpose define "position subject to membership" to mean prescribed positions at various educational institutions. The bill would also include in that definition certain positions in which a member performed creditable service before the operative date of the added definition of "position subject to membership," provided that the same member remains continuously employed to perform service in that position on and after that date. Existing law establishes alternate definitions for "credited service" for members based on whether they are subject to the California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA) . This bill would instead define "credited service" to mean service for which the required contributions have been paid and service for which required contributions would have been paid in absence of prescribed limits. Existing law defines "service" to means work performed for compensation in a position subject to coverage under the defined benefit program, except as otherwise specifically provided in existing law, providing the contributions on compensation for that work are not credited to a defined benefit supplement program. This bill would redefine "service" to mean work performed for compensation, except as otherwise specifically provided in existing law. Existing law establishes a cap on the amount of compensation that is taken into account in computing benefits payable for a member who first joins the program on or after July 1, 1996. This bill would additionally specify a cap for a member subject to PEPRA. Existing law provides for the computation of service to be credited for service performed before July 1, 1972, or on or after July 1, 1972. This bill would provide for the computation of service to be credited for service performed on or after a date determined by the board as described below. This bill would require the board to determine a date when STRS has the capacity to implement the above-described changes and to post the date on the STRS internet website no later than July 1, 2027. The bill would make those provisions with the changes operative on the date determined by the board, would make the existing provisions inoperative on that same date, and would repeal those existing provisions on July 1, 2027. The bill would provide that the changes are consistent with prescribed principles that support the integrity of the retirement fund. The bill would require the board to adopt regulations to the extent required in order to continue to administer the bill accordingly. Existing law creates the Teachers' Retirement Fund, which is continuously appropriated for specified purposes, into which certain moneys are deposited, including employee contributions. By making the changes to creditable compensation that affect contributions to the fund, the bill would make an appropriation.
Who sponsors AB 1997?
AB 1997 is sponsored by McKinnor, Tina (Democratic).
What is the current status of AB 1997?
This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced January 30, 2024. Enacted.
Where can I track AB 1997?
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