New Law Outlines Training for CalPERS Board Members

Assembly Bill No. 1163, or AB 1163, was signed into law late last week by California Governor Jerry Brown. The language of the new law says that the board is required to adopt an education policy for its members and further requires that “all board members receive a minimum of 24 hours of board member education within the first two years of assuming office and for every subsequent two-year period in which the person serves on the board.”

In addition, the law requires the board to maintain a record of a board member’s compliance with the policy and to post the policy and an annual report on board member compliance on the CalPERS website (http://www.calpers.ca.gov/).

The language of AB 1163 also lists the topics that board members need to be trained on, which include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Fiduciary responsibilities;
• Ethics;
• Pension fund investments and investment program management;
• Actuarial matters;
• Pension funding;
• Benefits administration;
• Disability evaluation;
• Fair hearings;
• Pension fund governance; and
• New board member orientation.

More information about AB 1163 can be found here.