Subject to section 372, the council shall provide, by ordinance or ordinances, for the continuance, as part of the retirement system, of all employee retirement plans in operation upon the effective date of this article. Except as otherwise specifically provided in this article, no such plan, or any provision thereof, shall be modified or amended except through the adoption of an ordinance approved by a majority of the voters voting upon such proposition at a general municipal election or a special municipal election called for such purpose. Allowances existing in favor of or on account of retired employees of the city at the time of the adoption of this article shall be continued in force in accordance with the provisions under which said allowances were made. Except as provided in section 379, relating to cost-of-living adjustments, nothing in this article shall be construed as changing the status of members of such existing plans or the benefits thereunder. Notwithstanding any other provision in this article, the council shall provide by ordinance for continuation of the benefits of transferred members (as defined in former (1976) Charter section 359 and 360) pursuant to former (1976) Charter sections 359 through 366; provided, however, that any such transferred member shall have the right to elect in the manner provided by ordinance adopted by the city council, to have his or her rate of contribution, as required by former (1976) Charter section 365, based upon the rate of contribution for members of the plan established by former (1989) Charter section 399.
The council shall enact an ordinance or ordinances prescribing the conditions by which any member of the system retired for service or disability under the provisions of former (1976) Charter sections 173, 175.13 or 302 may make an election to receive a reduced retirement allowance during the member's lifetime in order that the member's surviving spouse may receive a continuation allowance. The provisions of said ordinance or ordinances shall substantially conform to the provisions of former (1989) Charter section 435(a), provided that no continuation allowance shall be payable unless one would otherwise be payable under the provisions of the Charter which apply to the member and provided further that the continuation allowance under former (1976) Charter section 173 shall be two-thirds or the member's reduced allowance. (Amended June 6 1989)