Judges' Retirement System II: beneficiaries.

Existing law establishes the Judges' Retirement System II, which is administered by the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System, and provides pension and other benefits to judges who are members. Existing law authorizes a judge to elect one of 4 optional retirement payment plans in lieu of receiving the maximum retirement allowance for their life alone. The optional plans provide for a reduced allowance payable to the judge for life and a payment or allowance payable to their surviving spouse, as specified. This bill would authorize a judge who elects one of those optional retirement payment plans to designate a beneficiary other than their spouse to receive the payment or allowance after the judge's death, subject to the community property rights of the judge's spouse. Existing law provides certain survivor benefits to a surviving spouse upon the death of a judge, depending on whether the judge was eligible to retire at death, not eligible to retire, or had already retired. This bill would provide those survivor benefits to a surviving designated beneficiary. Existing law authorizes the surviving spouse of a judge who died in office, had attained the minimum age for service retirement, with a minimum of 20 years of service, and met other requirements to receive an allowance that is equal to the amount that the judge would have received if the judge had been retired from service on the date of death, as specified. This bill would authorize the surviving designated beneficiary to receive that allowance and would remove the requirement that the judge have had a minimum of 20 years of service. This bill would make related changes.