(a) A member may change or cancel the election of an option made pursuant to Section 24307. The change or cancellation shall be on a properly executed form provided by the system and received at the system’s headquarters office within 30 days after the date of the member’s signature and, if applicable, the spouse’s signature, and no later than 30 days from the date the member’s initial benefit payment for the member’s most recent retirement under the Defined Benefit Program is paid by the system. The change or cancellation shall become effective as of the date of the member’s signature or the day prior to the member’s benefit effective date, whichever is earlier. Except as provided in subdivision (g) of Section 24307, both of the following shall apply:
(1) Any change to an election of an option shall be made according to Section 24307 and shall be considered a new preretirement election of an option.
(2) Regardless of how the member elects to receive the member’s service retirement allowance, a change made to an election of an option or a cancellation of an option shall result in the reduction of that allowance by an amount determined by the board to be the actuarial equivalent of the coverage the member received as a result of the preretirement election and that does not result in any adverse funding to the plan.
(b) If the option beneficiary designated in the preretirement election of an option pursuant to Section 24307 dies prior to the member’s retirement, the preretirement election shall be canceled as of the day following the date of death and the member’s subsequent retirement allowance under this part shall be subject to the allowance reduction prescribed in this section.
(c) If the option elected pursuant to Section 24307 is “Option 8” as described in paragraph (7) of subdivision (a) of Section 24300 or the compound option as described in paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of Section 24300.1, a member may cancel the designation of an option beneficiary. If the member cancels the designation of the option beneficiary or the option beneficiary predeceases the member prior to the member’s retirement, the member may elect to receive that portion of the retirement allowance without modification for the option or elect one or multiple new or existing option beneficiaries as described in Section 24307. Any change or cancellation of the designation of the option beneficiary under this subdivision shall result in the allowance reduction prescribed in this section.
(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 96, Sec. 21. (AB 644) Effective January 1, 2020.)