(a) Notwithstanding Sections 22953, 22957, and 22958, the following employees shall not receive any portion of the employer contribution payable for annuitants unless the person is credited with 15 or more years of state service, as defined by this section, at the time of retirement:

(1) A state employee, as defined by subdivision (c) of Section 3513, who is first employed by the state and becomes a state member of the system on or after April 1, 2017, and is represented by State Bargaining Unit 16.

(2) A state employee related to State Bargaining Unit 16 who is excepted from the definition of “state employee” in subdivision (c) of Section 3513 and is first employed by the state and becomes a state member of the system on or after April 1, 2017.

(b) The percentage of the employer contribution payable for postretirement dental care benefits for an employee subject to this section shall be based on the funding provision of the plan and the completed years of credited state service at retirement as shown in the following table:

(c) This section shall apply only to state employees who retire from service. For purposes of this section, “state service” means service rendered as an employee of the state or an appointed or elected officer of the state for compensation.

(d) This section does not apply to:

(1) Former state employees previously employed prior to April 1, 2017, who return to state employment on or after April 1, 2017.

(2) State employees hired prior to April 1, 2017, who become subject to representation by State Bargaining Unit 16 on or after April 1, 2017.

(3) State employees on an approved leave of absence employed before January 1, 2017, who return to active employment on or after April 1, 2017.

(4) State employees hired after April 1, 2017, who are first represented by a state bargaining unit other than Bargaining Unit 16, who later become represented by State Bargaining Unit 16.

(e) In those cases where the state has assumed from a public agency a function and the related personnel, service rendered by that personnel for compensation as employees or appointed or elected officers of that public agency may not be credited as state service for the purposes of this section unless the former employer has paid or agreed to pay the state the amount actuarially determined to equal the cost for any employee dental benefits that were vested at the time that the function and the related personnel were assumed by the state, and the Department of Finance finds that the contract contains a benefit factor sufficient to reimburse the state for the amount necessary to fully compensate for the postretirement dental benefit costs of those personnel. For noncontracting public agencies, the state agency that has assumed the function shall certify the completed years of public agency service to be credited to the employee as state service credit under this section.

(Added by Stats. 2017, Ch. 6, Sec. 14. (SB 131) Effective April 28, 2017. Became operative on June 27, 2017, pursuant to Stats. 2017, Ch. 19, Sec. 26, which repealed Stats. 2017, Ch. 6, Sec. 15.)