Gov. Code, § 21478 · Article 7. Optional Settlements On and After January 1, 2018
Gov. Code, § 21478
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) A member who elects to receive the unmodified allowance or the optional settlement in Section 21474, or the optional settlement in Section 21475, 21475.5, 21476, 21476.5, or 21477, and who names his or her spouse as the option beneficiary, and whose spouse is also an eligible survivor for the benefits provided by Section 21624, 21626, 21627, 21628, 21629, or 21630, and if the total benefit to the surviving spouse is at least 50 percent of the member’s unmodified allowance, may concurrently and irrevocably elect to have his or her allowance paid as a “qualified joint and survivor annuity.” Notwithstanding any other provision of this part, upon the election, the survivor allowance shall be paid only to the member’s spouse and shall continue to be paid upon the remarriage of the spouse. Any cost due to this election shall be paid by the member through an actuarial reduction to his or her allowance.
(b) For purposes of this section, a member’s retirement allowance shall be determined without regard to any limitation required pursuant to Section 415 of Title 26 of the United States Code but the amount payable to the spouse shall be subject to those limits as if it were the retirement allowance of the member.
(c) This section shall apply to any member who retires on or after January 1, 2018.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Added by Stats. 2016, Ch. 199, Sec. 22. (AB 2404) Effective January 1, 2017.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV§ionNum=21478.
- Text hash
- sha256 0c3fb189ec94cd7cf5bfa23ad1512908b1d59b3828572c8ca6de603cd609e36a
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Government Code
- Gov. Code, § 21474Printed as Section 21474
- Gov. Code, § 21475Printed as Section 21475, 21475.5, 21476, 21476.5, or 21477
- Gov. Code, § 21475.5Printed as Section 21475, 21475.5, 21476, 21476.5, or 21477
- Gov. Code, § 21476Printed as Section 21475, 21475.5, 21476, 21476.5, or 21477
- Gov. Code, § 21476.5Printed as Section 21475, 21475.5, 21476, 21476.5, or 21477
- Gov. Code, § 21477Printed as Section 21475, 21475.5, 21476, 21476.5, or 21477
- Gov. Code, § 21624Printed as Section 21624, 21626, 21627, 21628, 21629, or 21630
- Gov. Code, § 21626Printed as Section 21624, 21626, 21627, 21628, 21629, or 21630
- Gov. Code, § 21627Printed as Section 21624, 21626, 21627, 21628, 21629, or 21630
- Gov. Code, § 21628Printed as Section 21624, 21626, 21627, 21628, 21629, or 21630
- Gov. Code, § 21629Printed as Section 21624, 21626, 21627, 21628, 21629, or 21630
- Gov. Code, § 21630Printed as Section 21624, 21626, 21627, 21628, 21629, or 21630
Cited by 2 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Gov. Code, § 21478. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
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