What’s New

January 2024 (Election Window Begins): Separated employees impacted by Proposition B will have an opportunity to purchase service credit in SDCERS during a special 60-day window:

• January 15, 2024: Election window begins. An election kit will arrive to your address. Please allow time for mailing. If you don’t receive your kit by January 19^th, please email PropB@sandiego.gov.
• March 15, 2024: Election window closes. Submit your choice following the instructions in your election kit by midnight.

Questions? The City of San Diego has a dedicated email address to answer your questions. Please email your questions to PropB@sandiego.gov . If you would prefer to ask your questions by phone, simply send an email with your contact information. Due to the limited election window timing, the City is committed to responding to inquires as soon as possible but may take up to three business days. You can also ask a question during one of our education sessions. Check out the education session schedule below.

Live Education Sessions

Please join a virtual Prop B Education session to learn more about your options as a separated employee. These sessions are hosted by the City and SDCERS. You will have an opportunity to ask questions during these meetings.

2024 Prop B Election Window

The following information is intended for Local 145, MEA, Local 127, and DCAA separated employees impacted by Proposition B:

When you were employed with the City of San Diego (City), the City’s Proposition B Charter amendments excluded you from participating in the City’s defined benefit pension plan known as the San Diego City Employees’ Retirement System (SDCERS). Because of Proposition B, you were placed in the City’s SPSP-H defined contribution plan. The courts have since invalidated Proposition B and in early 2023, the terms of a “Prop B Settlement Agreement” for separated employees were concluded and signed with DCAA, Local 145, MEA, and Local 127. The San Diego City Council later approved these agreements (see copies of these agreements below).

As a result, you now have the opportunity to purchase service credit in SDCERS for your prior period of employment with the City.  The following steps provided below explain the process and the associated deadlines will be for purchasing service credit in SDCERS.  For separated union employees, the City’s “make whole” obligations will apply to the purchase of this service credit if you comply with these deadlines.  Among other relevant considerations related to making this purchase (or not) will be your career plans and whether you are now or are likely in the future to be working for a reciprocal agency (whether or not you return to City service) such that the reciprocity opportunity described below may be a major factor (see Reciprocity section for more information).

Note about reciprocity (if applicable): If you purchase service credit in SDCERS, as described in the timeline above, you would then become a member of SDCERS. After becoming a member, you will have access to the online SDCERS member portal in which you will be able to submit an online reciprocity request. After SDCERS receives your reciprocity request, staff will contact the reciprocal agency you have listed to request the information needed to establish reciprocity. Once all data is received and processed, SDCERS will send you a letter stating whether or not reciprocity has been established. (see reciprocity section below for more details)

Reciprocity

Understanding How Reciprocity Works Before Making Your Purchase Decision

Reciprocity is an agreement among certain California public retirement systems, including SDCERS, which allows members to change jobs between “reciprocal” retirement systems in California and combine service credit in each system to meet vesting and eligibility requirements.

SDCERS has reciprocity with CalPERS and San Diego County, as well as most other public retirement systems in California – major exceptions include the Judges’ Retirement Systems (JRS and JRS II), Legislators’ Retirement System (LRS), California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), University of California Retirement Plan (UCRP), and any federal retirement system.

If you join SDCERS by purchasing your prior City service credit when offered in January 2024, you may be able to establish reciprocity with a reciprocal public retirement system based on employment with another public employer.  This could be the determining factor when considering whether it is worth it for you to purchase your missed prior City service when Prop B was in effect.  Unfortunately, SDCERS will not be able to confirm whether you will be eligible to establish such reciprocity in advance of your decision to purchase service credit under the process and procedure described above. This is because SDCERS cannot act on a reciprocity application until you become a member of SDCERS and establishing membership requires you to make the purchase of service credit as outlined in Steps 1 and Step 2  above. Once your purchase is completed you can create an SDCERS member account online and submit your reciprocity application. In response, SDCERS will then process your application by exchanging information with the targeted reciprocal system and, if you meet the eligibility requirements for both systems, your reciprocity will be established.

Although SDCERS cannot confirm your eligibility for reciprocity with another system before you make the purchase of missed service credit, you can become informed about the eligibility requirements for establishing reciprocity and, on this basis, make a better judgment about the likelihood that reciprocity will be available to you when deciding whether to purchase your missed service credit.  For example, there are key rules related to reciprocity which must be followed:

• There can be no overlap of participation in retirement systems: The dates that you would have participated in SDCERS, had Prop B never existed, and your participation dates with the other retirement system, cannot overlap.
• Any gap in employment between jobs must be less than 6 months: The gap of time between your hire and/or termination date with the City of San Diego and the reciprocal system cannot be greater than 6 months.
• You must leave your contributions on deposit with the reciprocal retirement system: If you have already retired or withdrawn your contributions from the other retirement system, this will disqualify you from being eligible to establish reciprocity with SDCERS because all contributions must remain on deposit and retirement from all reciprocal systems must occur on the same day.

For more information on Reciprocity, please visit the following page:   https://www.sdcers.org/Resources/Subject-Plan-Booklets/Reciprocity-(1).aspx

Agreements

San Diego City Council has approved the terms of the Prop B Settlement Agreements for separated employees. Copies of the agreements can be found below:

• DCAA
• MEA and Local 127
• Local 145

If you were unrepresented during your time with the City, these agreements do not apply to you, however, you will still have the opportunity to purchase service credit in SDCERS as described in the “2024 Prop B Election Window” section above.

Frequently Asked Questions