republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/sb-278.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public Employees' Retirement System: disallowed compensation: benefit adjustments."
description: "(1) Existing law, the Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL) , establishes the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) , which provides a defined benefit to members of the system, based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. PERL authorizes a public agency to contract to make its employees members of PERS and prescribes a process for this. PERS is administered by its board of administration, which is responsible for correcting errors and omissions in the administration of the system and the payment of benefits. Existing law requires the board to correct all actions taken as a result of errors or omissions of the state or a contracting agency, in accordance with certain procedures."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "SB 278"
citation: "California SB 278 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Public Employees' Retirement System: disallowed compensation: benefit adjustments."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Leyva"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 34
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2021-01-29"
last_action: "2021-09-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/604ef303-cca7-4ae2-8149-dad29158e4d9"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB278"
source_hash: "5c97f78242294de4dcf0acc3d315f3ba81beac1a5be48ed743e317af2430e71a"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California SB 278 (20212022) — Public Employees' Retirement System: disallowed compensation: benefit adjustments.

(1) Existing law, the Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL) , establishes the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) , which provides a defined benefit to members of the system, based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. PERL authorizes a public agency to contract to make its employees members of PERS and prescribes a process for this. PERS is administered by its board of administration, which is responsible for correcting errors and omissions in the administration of the system and the payment of benefits. Existing law requires the board to correct all actions taken as a result of errors or omissions of the state or a contracting agency, in accordance with certain procedures.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **01/29/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB278&version=20210SB27899INT)
2. **03/23/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB278&version=20210SB27898AMD)
3. **09/03/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB278&version=20210SB27897AMD)
4. **09/27/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB278&version=20210SB27895CHP)
5. **SB278** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB278)
6. **09/10/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB278&version=20210SB27896ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **10–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Unfinished Business SB278 Leyva et al. Concurrence — **37–1** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 278 Leyva Senate Third Reading By Rodriguez — **65–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Leyva — primary (person)
- Lorena Gonzalez — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-01-29** Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction`
- **2021-02-01** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 3.
- **2021-02-01** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2021-02-10** Referred to Coms. on L., P.E. & R. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-22** Set for hearing March 8.
- **2021-02-22** Art. IV. Sec. 8(a) of the Constitution dispensed with.
- **2021-02-22** (Ayes 32. Noes 4.)
- **2021-02-22** Joint Rule 55 suspended. (Ayes 32. Noes 4. Page 272.)
- **2021-03-09** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 406.) (March 8). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-17** Set for hearing April 6.
- **2021-03-23** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-07** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 10. Noes 1. Page 686.) (April 6). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-08** Set for hearing April 19.
- **2021-04-20** April 19 hearing: Placed on APPR suspense file.
- **2021-05-14** Set for hearing May 20.
- **2021-05-20** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0. Page 1186.) (May 20). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-05-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-06-01** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 35. Noes 0. Page 1311.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-06-02** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2021-06-10** Referred to Com. on P.E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-24** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 23). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-25** June 30 hearing postponed by committee.
- **2021-07-07** July 7 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.
- **2021-08-26** Coauthors revised.
- **2021-08-26** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (August 26). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-08-30** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-03** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-03** Ordered to third reading.
- **2021-09-07** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 65. Noes 0. Page 2820.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-07** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2021-09-08** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 37. Noes 1. Page 2520.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-09-13** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2021-09-27** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-09-27** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 331, Statutes of 2021. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/604ef303-cca7-4ae2-8149-dad29158e4d9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).