McFee

*618 Opinion

The Regents of the University of California (Regents) maintain and administer a tax-deferred annuity plan for university employees. This appeal presents the question of whether the Regents are required to comply with requests by employees enrolled in said plan that the employees’ contributions be transferred to a commercial provider of tax-sheltered annuities instead of being maintained in a fund which is administered by the Regents. The answer to this question depends upon whether section 770.3 of the Insurance Code 1 applies in this situation and, if so, whether its application to the Regents unreasonably infringes upon powers vested in the Regents by the state Constitution.

Plaintiffs Ronald McFee, Thomas Campbell and James Day, employees of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory of the University of California, brought this mandamus and declaratory relief action for the purpose of establishing that, under section 770.3, defendant Regents were required to comply with plaintiffs’ instructions that their contributions to a tax-deferred annuity plan be placed with an independent agent, broker or company of plaintiffs’ choice. Plaintiffs McFee and Campbell both alleged…