Gov. Code, § 9361.1

(a) The election, revocation, or change of election set forth in Section 9361 may be made at any time before the effective date of retirement or after the effective date and prior to the making of the first payment on account of any retirement allowance.

(b) If at any time before the making of the first payment on account of the member’s retirement allowance, his or her spouse dies, or his or her marriage is terminated by a final judgment of divorce or annulment, the election of the member is automatically void, and the member may make a new election.

(c) A member who has elected an optional settlement providing for the payment of a benefit to his or her spouse may at any time before the making of the first payment on account of his or her retirement allowance substitute a different optional settlement.

(d) The election, revocation, or change of election shall be made by a writing filed with the board.

(e) If a member who is eligible for retirement has elected one of the optional settlements specified in this article, the surviving spouse of that member shall receive the same benefits as the surviving spouse would have received if the date of his or her death had also been the date of his or her retirement and if retirement had preceded death. If in that event benefits are paid to a surviving spouse, no payment shall be made pursuant to Section 9359.8. If a member dies without having elected an optional settlement and there is a surviving spouse, he or she shall be deemed for the purposes of this paragraph to have elected Optional Settlement No. 2. In either case, the benefits payable to the surviving spouse shall be in the same amount as if the member had elected to receive credit for service rendered prior to the date he or she became a member of this system and had paid the full amount of the contributions in respect to that service.

(f) Any election filed under this section prior to the effective date of the amendments to this section enacted by the Legislature at the 1957 Regular Session shall continue to be effective in accordance with the terms of this section as it read prior to those amendments and may thereafter be revoked or changed or become void only in accordance with this section as it read prior to such amendment.