California Code, Government Code - GOV § 21750

The purpose of this part is to ensure the federal tax-exempt status of the Public Employees' Retirement System, and any other retirement system administered by the board, to preserve the deferred treatment of federal income tax on public employer contributions to public employee pensions, and to ensure that members are provided with retirement and other related benefits that are commensurate, to the extent deemed reasonable, with the actuarial value of the benefits that would have been received but for the limitations imposed by Section 415 of Title 26 of the United States Code.

To achieve this purpose, this part incorporates certain pension payment limitations and elects the “grandfather” option in Section 415(b)(10) of Title 26 of the United States Code.  Also, this part contains certain payment provisions and replacement benefits.