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In order to continue in force provisions already existing for retirement and death benefits for officers and employees of the City and County, the San Francisco City and County Employees' Retirement System, hereinafter referred to as the Retirement System or the system, is hereby continued. The enactment of Sections 12.100 to 12.103 and Sections A8.500 to A8.581, inclusive, of this Charter is not intended to, and shall not in any way, alter or modify the rights, benefits, or obligations of any member or beneficiary of the Retirement System or of the City and County with respect to that system as they exist at the time this Charter becomes effective.
Ordinance provisions already existing with respect to the Retirement System shall continue in force until amended or revoked by the Board of Supervisors as provided in this Section. The Board of Supervisors is hereby empowered to enact, by a vote of three-fourths of its members, any and all ordinances necessary to carry into effect the provisions of Sections 12.100 to 12.103 and the Retirement System provisions of the Charter, as set forth in Appendix Sections A8.500 et. seq.; provided that the Board of Supervisors shall secure, through the Retirement Board, an actuarial report of the cost and effect of any proposed change in the benefits under the Retirement System, before enacting an ordinance or before voting to submit any proposed Charter amendment providing for such change.
Subject to the vested rights rule, the Board of Supervisors is further empowered to enact, by a vote of three-fourths of its members, ordinances to conform the provisions of the Retirement System to any changes in the tax laws of the United States to the extent necessary to maintain the qualified tax status of the Retirement System provided that the Board of Supervisors shall first secure, from the Retirement Board, an actuarial report of the cost and effect of any such change and the recommendation from the Retirement Board that such an ordinance is necessary.
The Board of Supervisors is further empowered to enact, by a vote of three-fourths of its members, ordinances to allow Internal Revenue Code section 414(h)(2) tax treatment of members' contributions to the Retirement System provided that the Board of Supervisors shall first secure from the Retirement Board an actuarial report which certifies that such ordinances will not increase costs, other than administrative costs, for the City and County.
(Amended by Proposition C, approved 11/8/2011)
Subject to the provisions of Section 8.500, the Board of Supervisors shall have the power to enact ordinances to establish reciprocal agreements with the Public Employees' Retirement System and other public agencies maintaining independent Retirement Systems for the purpose of extending reciprocal benefits to members of such systems as provided by state law. The Board of Supervisors and the retirement board shall have the power to perform all acts necessary to carry out the terms and purposes of such agreements.
Subject to the provisions of Section 8.500, the Board of Supervisors is further empowered to enact ordinances necessary to extend reciprocal rights to members who transfer between retirement plans established by this Charter provided that service under any plan for miscellaneous members shall be used for qualification purposes only and not to calculate benefits under any retirement plan for members of the police or fire departments. With the exception of those members who transferred pursuant to Charter Sections 8.559-14 and 8.585-14, no ordinance enacted under this section shall extend reciprocal rights to any member who transferred from Charter section 8.559 or 8.585 to Charter section 8.509, 8.584, 8.586 or 8.588, before April 1, 1993. No ordinance enacted under this section shall extend reciprocal rights to any person who terminated his or her membership in the Retirement System or retired before April 1, 1993. Subject to the above, reciprocal benefits under this paragraph shall be consistent with interpretations that have been made relative to the reciprocal benefit provisions of the Public Employees' Retirement System and 1937 County Employees' Retirement Act which this paragraph is intended to implement. The reciprocal benefits under this section will be limited by Section 415 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended from time to time, and no reciprocal benefits will be effective if they have an adverse impact on the tax qualified status of the Retirement System under Section 401 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended from time to time.
(Amended November 1999; November 2002)
With respect to the Retirement System, domestic partnerships shall be treated exactly the same as marriages, domestic partners shall be treated exactly the same as spouses, termination of a domestic partnership shall be treated exactly the same as a dissolution of marriage and qualified surviving domestic partners shall be treated exactly the same as qualified surviving spouses, respectively.
(a) As used in the retirement plans established by this Charter, the phrase "surviving wife" shall also mean and include a "surviving spouse." As used in these sections, the phrases "surviving wife" and "surviving spouse" shall also mean and include a surviving domestic partner, provided that:
(1) there is no surviving spouse, and
(2) the member has designated his or her domestic partner as beneficiary with the Retirement System, and
(3) the domestic partnership is established or recognized according to those provisions of Chapter 62 of the San Francisco Administrative Code, as amended from time to time. Domestic partners who have formed their domestic partnership only by notarization of a declaration of Domestic Partnership as provided in Chapter 62 of the San Francisco Administrative Code shall not be recognized or treated as a domestic partnership for purposes under the Retirement System unless and until the domestic partnership is registered or certified. A certificate of such domestic partnership, civil union, or similar legal relationship issued by another jurisdiction in a form that is equivalent to the records that the Retirement System relies upon to verify marriages shall constitute sufficient proof of such legal relationship.
(b) Beginning March 5, 2002, the requirement of filing a Certificate of Domestic Partnership with the Retirement System shall not apply to members who were retired on or before November 8, 1995 and who had filed a signed Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the County Clerk at least one full year prior to the effective date of his or her retirement; and provided further that, as to any such member who was retired on or before November 8, 1995, no adjustment to a retirement allowance and no payments to a qualified surviving domestic partner shall begin before the effective date of this amendment or before the first day of the month in which an application is made to the Retirement System, which ever occurs later.
(c) A monthly allowance equal to what would other-wise be payable to a surviving spouse shall be paid to the said surviving domestic partner, until he or she dies, marries or establishes a new domestic partnership. Establishment of a domestic partnership by a surviving spouse shall be treated exactly the same as a remarriage for retirement purposes.
(d) Notwithstanding subsection (c), no additional continuation allowance shall be paid after March 2, 2004 to a surviving domestic partner who is receiving a continuation allowance as the surviving spouse of another member on or before March 2, 2004.
(e) No continuation allowance shall be payable under the provisions of this section approved by the electorate on March 2, 2004 to the survivor of any member or retired member who died on or before March 1, 2004. Any retirement allowance payable to a person who becomes a qualified surviving domestic partner pursuant to the provisions of this section approved by the electorate on March 2, 2004, shall not begin before April 15, 2004.
(f) The domestic partner benefits under this section will be limited by Section 415 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended from time to time. No domestic partner benefits will be effective if they have an adverse impact on the tax qualified status of the Retirement System under Section 401 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended from time to time.
(Amended March 2002; November 2002; March 2004)
Elective officers, including members of the Board of Supervisors in office on and after July 1, 2000, but excepting members of all other boards and commissions and any elective officers who are members of the Public Employees' Retirement System, shall be members of the San Francisco City and County Employees' Retirement System under the miscellaneous plan in effect on the date such officer assumes office. Time during which said members have rendered service as elective officers shall be included under Subsection (g) of Section A8.509, Section A8.584-7 or the miscellaneous plan in effect on the date such officer assumes office, in addition to other time now so included. Contributions required to provide benefits based on service rendered as an elective officer prior to the effective date of membership in the Retirement System, shall be paid to the Retirement System in a manner consistent with contributions required of miscellaneous members for temporary service as provided in this Charter and the administrative code.
(Amended March 2000)
Employees and attaches of the superior or municipal court, including persons performing duties performed under the titles of commissioners, phonographic reporters who are paid compensation on a monthly or per diem basis by the City and County, secretaries, stenographers, investigators, messengers and other employees of the superior and municipal courts, in and for the City and County of San Francisco, shall be members of the San Francisco City and County Employees' Retirement System under Section 8.509, and shall be subject to all of the conditions applying to other members under that section, except as herein otherwise provided.
Service rendered to the said superior or municipal court in and for the City and County, other than as a phonographic reporter, by persons prior to becoming members under this section on February 1, 1953, shall be credited under the Retirement System to such persons, provided that it would have qualified for credit when rendered, if said persons had been subject then, as they will be under this section, to the provisions of Section 8.509 of this Charter and of the ordinances and provisions of the Municipal Code of the City and County of San Francisco relating to retirement of members under said section.
Service rendered to said superior court on and after September 15, 1945, or to said municipal court on and after September 1, 1947, by phonographic reporters prior to becoming members under this section on February 1, 1953, shall be credited under this Retirement System to such persons.
Said service, rendered prior to becoming a member under this section on February 1, 1953, shall only be credited to each of such persons if he elect, by written notice, on a form provided by Retirement System, filed in the office of the retirement board of said system prior to July 1, 1953, to receive credit for all or any part of said service, and to pay into the retirement fund, at times and in the manner hereinafter provided, the following amounts:
(a) an amount equal to the normal contributions he would have contributed, had he been a member of the Retirement System under Section 8.509, during the time for which he has elected to receive credit for service, on the basis of compensation paid to him by the City and County on account of said service, and
(b) an amount equal to the interest which would have been credited to his account on account of such contributions from the date upon which they would have been made, to the date of payment of such contributions to the Retirement System. However, a member shall not receive credit for any portion of such service rendered prior to April 1, 1922, unless he has elected to receive credit for, and has paid into the retirement fund such amount with respect to, all of said service rendered after March 31, 1922. Such amounts shall be paid into the retirement fund by lump sum payment, or payroll deductions or other installments, over a period not exceeding 36 months from July 1, 1953, provided that any balance remaining unpaid at his retirement shall become due and payable forthwith. Benefits, not provided by such amounts, granted to said persons on account of said service rendered prior to February 1, 1953, shall be provided by contributions of the City and County. Such service shall include time during which such person was absent from a status included in the paragraph above by reason of service in the armed forces of the United States in any war in which the United States has engaged.
Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, any such employee or attache not already a member of the system and who is such an employee or attache on February 1, 1953, shall not become a member of the Retirement System, unless he elect prior to July 1, 1953, on a form provided by the Retirement System, to be a member of said system, and if he does not so elect, he shall not be a member of the Retirement System, and shall not be prevented from continuing in such employment by reason of such provision.
Officers and employees of the Parking Authority of the City and County shall become members of the San Francisco City and County Employees' Retirement System under Section 8.509 on February 1, 1963, and thereupon shall be subject to all conditions applying to other members under that section inclusive of the provisions of Section 8.514 of the Charter, except as herein otherwise provided; provided, however, that members of such authority are excluded from the San Francisco City and County Employees' Retirement System.
Service rendered to the said Parking Authority by persons prior to becoming members under this section on February 1, 1963, shall be credited under the Retirement System to such persons, subject to the terms and conditions provided herein. Said service shall only be credited to each of such persons if he elect, by written notice, on a form provided by the Retirement System and filed in the office of the retirement board of said system prior to July 1, 1963, to receive credit for said service, and to pay into the retirement fund, at times and in the manner fixed by the Retirement Board, the following amounts:
(a) an amount equal to the normal contributions he would have contributed, had he been a member of the Retirement System under Section 8.509, during the period in which said service was rendered, on the basis of compensation paid to him by the City and County on account of said service and
(b) an amount equal to the interest which would have been credited to his account on account of such contributions from the date upon which they would have been made, to the date of payment of such contributions to the Retirement System; provided that any balance remaining unpaid at his retirement shall become due and payable forthwith. If any such person shall not so elect to receive credit for said service and to pay such amounts of contributions and interest, or having so elected, subsequently does not pay into the retirement fund such amounts at times and in the manner herein provided, and prior to February 1, 1963, he shall enter as a new member without credit for any of said service, any monies theretofore received from him as payment on such amounts together with accumulated interest thereon shall be refunded to him, and the rate of his contribution shall be the normal rate provided in Subsection (h) of Section 8.509 at his age on February 1, 1963, otherwise his rate of contributions shall be the rate provided in said Subsection (h) of Section 8.509 based on his age at the earliest date in the period for which said service is credited. Benefits, not provided by such amounts, granted to said persons on account of said service rendered prior to the effective date of membership under this section, shall be provided by contributions of the City and County.
Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, any such officer or employee not already a member of the system and who is such an officer or employee on February 1, 1963, shall not become a member of the Retirement System, unless he elects to be a member of said system, in writing, on a form provided by the Retirement System and filed in the office of the Retirement System prior to July 1, 1963; if he does not so elect he shall not be a member of the Retirement System, and shall not be prevented from continuing in such employment by reason of the provisions of this section.
All employees of the Port Authority who, on February 7, 1969, are members of the Public Employees' Retirement System of the State of California shall continue to be members of said Public Employees' Retirement System, with all the rights, privileges and benefits of said system and they shall not be members of the San Francisco City and County Employees' Retirement System; and, notwithstanding any other provisions of this Charter, the City and County shall perform all acts necessary to continue the membership of such employees in said Public Employees' Retirement System.
All employees of the Port Authority who, at the time the transfer provided for herein shall go into effect, are covered under the provisions of a retirement program other than the Public Employees' Retirement System of the State of California shall thereafter continue to be covered under such retirement program and they shall not be members of the San Francisco City and County Employees' Retirement System; and, notwithstanding any other provisions of this Charter, the City and County shall perform all acts necessary to continue the coverage of such employees under such retirement program.
Persons who, after February 7, 1969, become employees of the City and County in positions related to the operation of the State Belt Railroad and who become covered under the provisions of the Railroad Retirement Act by virtue of their employment in such positions shall not be members of the San Francisco City and County Employees' Retirement System.
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