(a) The special reserve resulting from the discontinuance of a district retirement salary plan as provided in former Section 14690 prior to its repeal, and a part of which is used annually in the interest of the employees of the district at the discretion of the governing board, is continued in existence and shall continue to be used first as provided in this section.

(b) The district in which the district retirement plan was discontinued and that credited each teacher or other person employed by the district at the time of discontinuance, in a status requisite for membership in this plan, with an amount that bears the same ratio to the portion of the assets delivered to the district pursuant to former subdivision (c) of Section 14690 prior to its repeal, that remained after the creation of the reserve fund for payments under former subdivision (d) of Section 14690 prior to its repeal, as required by former subdivision (e) of Section 14690 prior to its repeal, as the accumulated contributions credited to the member in his or her individual contribution account under the discontinued retirement plan at the time of discontinuance, bore to the total accumulated contributions so credited to all such teachers and persons, but this credit to any active member shall not exceed the amount of the member’s accumulated contributions so credited at that time. The amount so credited to any person shall continue to be increased by interest at rates approved from time to time by the governing board of the district. The accumulated amount at the date upon which the person retires for service or disability under the system shall continue to be applied according to rates and tables adopted by the governing board and then in effect, to provide an annuity payable to the person throughout the balance of his or her life or a lump-sum payment of the total account balance on the date of retirement at the option of the governing board. If the person dies prior to retirement, the amount, with credited interest, shall be paid to his or her designated beneficiary, as it appears on the records of the district, if any, otherwise to the member’s estate. If the person ceases to be employed by the district for any reason other than death, retirement, or attainment of the age at which his or her classification as a permanent employee ceases, he or she shall no longer be credited with or have any right to the accumulated amount, but the amount shall revert to and belong to the district. The arrangement under which annuities and death benefits are paid by a district under this subdivision shall not be considered to be a local retirement system for the purposes of this part, nor shall those payments be taken into account in the calculation of retirement allowances under this plan.

(c) The reserve fund created by the district from the assets delivered to it pursuant to subdivision (c) of former Section 14690 prior to its repeal is continued in existence and in the amount equal in amount to the total contributions credited to employees of the district, under former subdivision (b) of former Section 14691 prior to its repeal, and the annuities and death benefits payable under subdivision (b) of former Section 14691 prior to its repeal shall continue to be paid from this reserve fund. If the reserve fund as first created proves insufficient to make the payments required under subdivision (b) of former Section 14691, the district shall continue to make any additions to the reserve fund necessary to provide for those payments.

(d) (1) In addition to any other investments authorized by law for the investment of those funds, the funds of any specialized reserve or reserve fund established pursuant to former Section 14690 or former Section 14691 prior to their repeal may continue to be invested as authorized by Section 31595 of the Government Code for the investment of the funds of a county employees’ retirement system.

(2) The governing board may employ investment advisers to advise it on these investments and the fees for these services may be paid from the special reserve or reserve funds.

(e) The governing board may make additional cost-of-living adjustments in the payments to persons who retired prior to January 1, 1953.

(Amended by Stats. 1996, Ch. 634, Sec. 275. Effective January 1, 1997.)