It is the intent of the Legislature in adopting this article to pursue the following objectives:
(a) To protect the fiscal soundness of the Public Employees’ Retirement System.
(b) To increase the number and kinds of retirement options available to members of the system.
(c) To enhance the quality of service to the general public by retaining longer, on the average, the skill and expertise of our most experienced public servants.
(d) To reduce insofar as possible by this indirect means the social costs attributable to inappropriate or premature severance of connection with the labor market by retirees.
(e) To conduct and disseminate studies determining the extent to which the concepts embodied in this article are effective in achieving such objectives in hopes that, if successful, the program established under this article may be useful as a guide for extension of the concept to other retirement systems, public and private.
(Added by Stats. 1983, Ch. 1258, Sec. 1.5. Effective September 30, 1983. Operative January 1, 1984, by Sec. 16 of Ch. 1258.)