(1) Existing law, the Public Employees’ Retirement Law (PERL) creates the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) for the purpose of providing pensions and benefits to state employees and their beneficiaries and prescribes the rights and duties of employers participating in the system. Under PERL, benefits are funded by investment income and employer and employee contributions, which are deposited into the Public Employees’ Retirement Fund, a continuously appropriated trust fund administered by the system’s board of administration.

PERL prescribes methods for the calculation and payment of the state employer contribution for its employees who are PERS members. PERL provides for an annual adjustment of the state’s contribution in the budget and quarterly appropriations to the Public Employees’ Retirement Fund from the General Fund and other funds that are responsible for payment of the employer contribution.

Existing law makes additional General Fund appropriations to the Public Employees’ Retirement Fund for the 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24, and 2024–25 fiscal years. Supplemental payments connected with appropriations for those fiscal years are to be apportioned to the state employee member categories generally, as directed by the Department of Finance, and to specified state employee member categories, including to the state miscellaneous member category, the industrial member category, the state safety member category, and the state peace officer/firefighter member category.

The California Constitution establishes the Budget Stabilization Account in the General Fund and requires the Controller, in each fiscal year, to transfer from the General Fund to the Budget Stabilization Account amounts that include a sum equal to 1.5% of the estimated amount of General Fund revenues for that fiscal year. These provisions further require, until the 2029–30 fiscal year, that the Legislature appropriate a percentage of these moneys, the amount of which is generated pursuant to specified calculations, for certain obligations and purposes, including addressing unfunded liabilities for state-level pension plans.

This bill would appropriate $372,000,000 from the General Fund for the purposes identified in the constitutional provisions described above, to supplement the state’s appropriation to the Public Employees’ Retirement Fund. The bill would specify that this appropriation represents a portion of the amount identified in a specific provision of the Budget Act of 2025. The bill would require the Department of Finance to provide the Controller with a schedule establishing the timing of specific transfers. The bill would require the supplemental payment to the Public Employees’ Retirement Fund to be apportioned to specified state employee member categories, not to exceed $174,523,000 to the state miscellaneous member category, $10,296,000 to the state industrial member category, $20,479,000 to the state safety member category, and $166,702,000 to the state peace officer/firefighter member category. The bill would require the appropriation described above to be applied to the unfunded state liabilities for the state employee member categories that are in excess of the base amounts for the 2025–26 fiscal year.

(2) PERL authorizes any public agency to make its employees members of PERS by contract. Under existing law, when a contracting agency is succeeded by another agency, the successor agency may become a contracting agency of PERS. Existing law provides that if the successor agency contracts with PERS, the contract of the former agency shall merge with the contract of the succeeding agency. Existing law authorizes specified successor agencies to provide employees the defined benefit plan or formula that those employees received from their respective employer prior to annexation.

This bill would authorize a successor agency for the Humboldt No. 1 Fire Protection District and City of Eureka Fire Department to provide employees the defined benefit plan or formula that those employees received from their respective employer prior to the annexation, as prescribed.

(3) Existing law authorizes a local government, when hiring additional firefighters, to appoint as a member or officer any person who meets specified criteria, including, among other things, that the person was serving as a permanent career civilian federal firefighter in good standing at any United States military installation and that the person was, as a consequence of the closure, downsizing, or realignment of a federal military installation, terminated as a permanent career civilian federal firefighter, as specified.

This bill would revise these provisions to specify the person was serving as a permanent career civilian firefighter, in good standing, employed by the federal government or contracted to serve at a federal installation, and would make conforming changes.

(4) Existing law establishes the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, administered by the State Department of Social Services and counties, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons are provided with services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes. Under existing law, a county board of supervisors may elect to contract with a nonprofit consortium or establish a public authority to provide for the delivery of in-home supportive services. If a public authority or nonprofit consortium and an employee organization fail to reach agreement on a bargaining contract with IHSS workers, existing law authorizes either party to request mediation, and if there is no settlement effected through mediation, existing law requires the parties to submit their differences to factfinding. Existing law authorizes, if both parties agree, the parties to bypass the mediation process and move directly to factfinding, and authorizes either party to request postfactfinding mediation, as specified. Existing law prohibits the findings of fact and recommended settlement terms from being made public until the mediation has concluded if either party elects postfactfinding mediation.

This bill would instead authorize either party to opt to bypass the mediation process to move directly to factfinding, and would instead authorize both the parties, by mutual agreement, to request postfactfinding mediation. The bill would require the findings of fact and recommended settlement terms to be made public immediately if either party declines to elect postfactfinding mediation.

Existing law subjects a county to a withholding of 1991 Realignment funds if, among other things, the county does not reach an agreement with the employee organization within 90 days after the release of the factfinding panel’s recommended settlement terms.

This bill would instead change that timeline to 30 days after the release of the factfinding panel’s recommended settlement term.

Existing law also establishes the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid Program provisions. Existing law authorizes certain Medi-Cal recipients to receive waiver personal care services, as defined, in order to allow the recipients to remain in their own homes. Existing law requires that in-home supportive services and waiver personal care services be performed by providers within a workweek that does not exceed 66 hours per week. Existing law defines the total number of hours worked within a workweek to be the sum of all hours worked providing authorized services and travel time. If federal financial participation is available for travel time, existing law prohibits the travel time from being included in the calculation of the total weekly hours worked within a workweek. Existing law specifies that only federal law and regulations regarding overtime compensation apply to the aforementioned providers of authorized services.

This bill would instead require the hours worked by a provider in the performance of services or travel time that exceed 40 hours in a workweek to be compensated at one and 1 1 2 times the provider’s hourly wage, and would, for the purposes of overtime compensation, disregard whether federal financial participation is available for travel time.

Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires public records to be open to inspection at all times during the office hours of the state or local agency that retains those records, and provides that every person has a right to inspect any public record, except as provided. Existing law provides that certain information regarding persons paid by the state to provide in-home supportive services or certain personal care services are not subject to disclosure under those provisions. Existing law further provides that copies of names, addresses, home telephone numbers, and other identifying information are required to be made available, upon request, to an exclusive bargaining agent and to any labor organization seeking representation rights under specified collective bargaining provisions.

This bill would, if the State Department of Social Services determines it is necessary to avoid disruption to payroll processes, authorize banking information, subject to a data sharing agreement, to be provided to the payment processing contractor of the recognized employee organization only for persons who have signed a membership agreement authorizing such disclosure.

Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to be responsible for procuring and implementing a new Case Management Information and Payroll System (CMIPS) to provide case management, payroll, and management information in order to support the IHSS program and Personal Care Services Program.

The bill would require the department to contract for payrolling or related functions, as necessary, subject to the same statutory requirements that apply to the State Controller when making such deductions.

(5) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Humboldt.

(6) The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

(7) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.