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House Bill 2559 |
House Author: Truitt |
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Effective: 9-1-09 |
Senate Sponsor: Duncan |
House Bill 2559 amends provisions of the Government Code relating to the powers and duties of and benefits available under the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS). The bill authorizes the electronic transmission of an ERS record relating to members, annuitants, retirees, beneficiaries, and alternate payees, including survivors of certain law enforcement officers, firefighters, and state employees, and grants ERS sole discretion in determining whether a record is subject to provisions governing the release of confidential records.
House Bill 2559 establishes venue in Travis County for any action by or against ERS, the trustees, officers, or employees of ERS, or an administering firm, carrier, or other governmental agency acting in cooperation with or on behalf of ERS and a two-year statute of limitations for a claim against ERS or a trustee, officer, or employee, unless otherwise specifically provided by law. The bill authorizes the ERS executive director to cause an action for interpleader concerning a claim to be filed on ERS's behalf in a district court if the executive director determines that a claim may expose ERS to a liability. The bill prohibits a person from pursuing a counterclaim or other cause of action in connection with a transaction or occurrence related to the interpleader action and makes a person who violates this prohibition liable for costs and attorney's fees.
House Bill 2559 specifies that the withdrawal of a law enforcement or custodial officer's accumulated contributions for service credited in the employee membership class includes all contributions to the law enforcement and custodial officer supplemental retirement fund and that such officer's standard or reduced annuity is payable from both the ERS trust fund and the law enforcement and custodial officer supplemental retirement fund in a ratio determined by ERS.
House Bill 2559 prohibits a member who retires from the employee class on or after May 31, 2009, from returning to state employment in the same membership class for 90 days after the original retirement, and it requires a state agency to pay to ERS a surcharge for each month that it employs a person who retires from the employee class on or after September 1, 2009, and is rehired as a retiree in a position that otherwise would include membership in that class.
House Bill 2559 includes provisions applicable only to an employee hired on or after September 1, 2009, who is not an ERS member on the hire date. The bill allows such a member or the member's beneficiary to use sick leave and annual leave only for purposes of calculating the member's or beneficiary's annuity; makes such a member eligible to retire and receive a service retirement annuity if the member is at least 65 years old and has at least 10 years of employee service credit or has at least five years of employee service credit and the sum of the member's age and service credit is equal to or greater than 80; and provides for the calculation of such a member's standard service retirement annuity based on the highest 48 months of salary multiplied by 2.3 percent for each year of service credit, reduced by five percent for each year the member retires before the member reaches age 60, with a maximum possible reduction of 25 percent. The bill also provides for adjusted retirement benefits for such a member who has at least 20 years of service credit as a law enforcement or custodial officer, including a standard combined service retirement annuity (based on the highest 48 months of salary multiplied by 2.3 percent per year of service credit plus 0.5 percent and subject to reduction for a retirement before the age of 55) payable from the two funds noted above.
House Bill 2559 establishes that, if ERS has not paid benefits as of the fourth anniversary of a member's or annuitant's death and a claim for benefits is not pending based on the death, the accumulated contributions of the deceased member or the balance of the reserve for the deceased annuitant reverts to ERS's benefit and is transferred to the state accumulation account. The bill authorizes ERS, if it has not received a demand for a refund of the accumulated contributions of a member before the seventh anniversary of the member's last day of service, to refund the accumulated contributions to the member or the member's heirs. If the member or heirs cannot be found, those contributions revert to ERS and are credited to the state accumulation account.
House Bill 2559 authorizes a person to select an optional service retirement annuity under ERS that provides, after the retiree's death, for three-fourths of the reduced annuity to be payable throughout the life of the person designated by the retiree before retirement.
House Bill 2559 prohibits a member otherwise eligible to receive a disability retirement annuity from receiving the annuity if the member is still earning a salary or wage from the employment for which the member is claiming disability or is on leave without pay from such employment. For purposes of a certification of disability, the bill sets out criteria for determining a member's incapacity for the further performance of duty and requires the employee's education, training, and experience to be considered when making such a determination.
House Bill 2559 authorizes ERS to issue a subpoena that conforms to the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure that ERS determines necessary to protect the interests of a program or system administered by ERS. The bill requires the ERS board of trustees, in acquiring private financial services, to make a good faith effort to acquire services from qualified emerging fund managers, and it requires ERS to report to the board on the methods and results of such efforts.
House Bill 2559 increases the member contribution rate from 6.0 percent to 6.5 percent for members of the employee class and requires an additional 0.5 percent contribution from each law enforcement or custodial officer for deposit in the law enforcement and custodial officer supplemental retirement fund.
House Bill 2559 requires the Judicial Retirement System of Texas Plan Two to refund any contributions, interest, or membership fees used to establish service credit that is not used in computing the amount of the annuity at the time a service or disability retirement or death benefit annuity becomes payable. For the purpose of establishing service credit for an office included in membership of that system, the term of a member leaving judicial office ends not later than December 31 regardless of the date on which the member's successor takes the oath of office.
House Bill 2559 amends the Insurance Code to authorize the surviving spouse of an individual or the surviving dependent of an annuitant to secure group health coverage without evidence of the person's insurability if the individual or annuitant was eligible to participate in the state employees group benefits program but was not participating at the time of the individual's death. The bill requires a surviving spouse or dependent to apply for the coverage not later than the 30th day after the eligible individual's death and to pay for the coverage at the group rate.
House Bill 2559 authorizes ERS to deposit to the credit of the fund any unclaimed money on a finding that a good faith effort has been made to locate the person entitled to the money, except in the circumstances where the amount payable escheats to the credit of the employees life, accident, and health insurance and benefits fund. The bill authorizes ERS to distribute a supplemental annuity payment on the state's behalf from money appropriated to ERS by the 81st Legislature, Regular Session, 2009. The bill authorizes the Department of State Health Services and ERS to enter into an interagency contract to establish a state employee pilot program consistent with federal guidelines for chronic disease prevention and wellness initiatives.