Gov. Code, § 22970.89 · Chapter 12. Distributions and Rollovers
Gov. Code, § 22970.89
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) The plan’s obligations to a participant, beneficiary, or nonparticipant spouse who elected a lump-sum distribution cease upon distribution of the lump-sum benefit.
(1) Deposit in the United States mail of a warrant drawn in favor of the participant, beneficiary, or nonparticipant spouse and addressed to the latest address on file for that person constitutes distribution of the benefit.
(2) Deposit in the United States mail of a notice that the requested electronic funds transfer has been made as directed by the participant, beneficiary, or nonparticipant spouse constitutes distribution of the benefit.
(3) If the participant, beneficiary, or nonparticipant spouse has elected on a form prescribed by the board to transfer all or a specific portion of the account that is eligible for a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer under Section 401(a)(31) of Title 26 of the United States Code to the trustee of an eligible retirement plan, deposit in the United States mail of a notice that the requested transfer has been made constitutes distribution of the benefit.
(b) The plan’s obligations to a participant or beneficiary who elected to receive a benefit in the form of partial distributions cease upon distribution of the final payment.
(1) Deposit in the United States mail of a warrant drawn in favor of the participant or beneficiary and addressed to the latest address on file for that person constitutes distribution of the benefit.
(2) Deposit in the United States mail of a notice that the requested electronic funds transfer has been made as directed by the participant or beneficiary constitutes distribution of the benefit.
(c) Distribution under paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of subdivision (a) or paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (b) pursuant to the board’s determination in good faith of the existence, identity, or other facts relating to entitlement of persons constitutes a complete discharge and release of the board, system, and plan from liability for payments.
(d) This section shall not apply to a permissible in-service distribution pursuant to Section 22970.855 if the participant account is only partially distributed.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2013, Ch. 755, Sec. 11. (SB 277) Effective January 1, 2014.
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=22970.89.
- Text hash
- sha256 d78674f6ad4af0c0151a659b1c47c8baef67bb865aa1d2dd1d45a156c0b05adb
- 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
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.