Public employees' retirement: death benefits.

The Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL) creates the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) , which provides a defined benefit to members of the system based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. PERL vests management and control of PERS in the Board of Administration. Under that law, members may make certain elections, including elections to purchase service credit for various types of public service, upon payment of additional contributions. Existing law establishes procedures governing the treatment of unpaid balances under an election when a basic death benefit becomes payable before a member has completed making the total payment. Existing law establishes other procedures governing unpaid balances when a special death benefit is payable or a member retires for industrial disability. Existing law provides that any unpaid balance at a member's retirement for service or ordinary disability or at death, with respect to certain preretirement death benefits, may be subject to specified provisions governing service credit, when payment of the balance would not increase the allowance payable. This bill would specify that the above-described provision does not apply to industrial disability payments. The bill would make various other technical and nonsubstantive changes to the above provisions.