According to certain aspects, an apparatus for coding video information includes a memory and a processor configured to determine whether a first syntax element is present in a bitstream, the first syntax element associated with a sequence parameter set (SPS) and a first flag indicative of whether a temporal identifier (ID) of a reference picture for pictures that refer to the SPS can be nested; and in response to determining that the first syntax element is not present in the bitstream: obtain a second syntax element indicative of a maximum number of temporal sub-layers in a particular layer of the plurality of layers; and determine whether to set the first flag equal to a second flag indicative of whether a temporal ID of a reference picture for any pictures can be nested based at least in part on a value of the second syntax element.