Section 20588.

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, the board may, pursuant to this section and Section 31657, enter into an agreement with the board of retirement of a county maintaining a county retirement system, for termination of participation of a public agency whose contract has been in effect for at least five years in this system or the state with respect to certain safety members who have ceased to be employed by the public agency or the state and have been employed by a county, fire authority, or district as a result of a transfer of firefighting or law enforcement functions from the public agency or the state to the county, fire authority, or district and inclusion of the former public agency employees in that county retirement system.

(b) The agreement shall contain provisions the board finds necessary to protect the interests of this system, including provisions for determination of the amount, time, and manner of transfer of cash or securities, or both, to be transferred to the county system representing the actuarial value of the interests in the retirement fund of the public agency or the state and the transferred employees by reason of accumulated contributions credited to that public agency or the state and the employees transferred. The agreement may also contain any other provisions that the board deems necessary to address issues related to the transfer, including, but not limited to, benefits subject to an outstanding domestic relations order and benefits subject to a lien. The agreement shall apply only to employees who are employed by the county or district on the effective date of the agreement.

(c) All liability of this system with respect to the members transferred under that agreement shall cease and shall become the liability of the county retirement system as of the date of transfer specified in the agreement. Liability of the county retirement system shall be for payment of benefits to transferred employees in accordance with Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 31450) of Part 3 of Division 4 of Title 3.

(d) Any member transferred who becomes a member of a county retirement system upon that transfer date shall be subject to provisions of this part and of Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 31450) of Part 3 of Division 4 of Title 3 extending rights to a member or subjecting him or her to limitations because of membership in another retirement system to the same extent that he or she would have been had he or she been a member of the county retirement system during his or her membership in this system.

(e) This section shall apply only in Kern, Los Angeles, and Orange Counties.

(Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 519, Sec. 5. Effective January 1, 2004.)