Enrolled Bill Summary

            Senate Bill 1370 amends provisions of the Insurance Code relating to the group insurance programs provided by the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS), the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), The University of Texas System (UT), and The Texas A&M University System (A&M).

            It establishes a general rule that retirees participating in the ERS plan, except persons who are eligible to retire under the ERS elected class, as judges, or as law enforcement officers, be age 65 with 10 years of service or retire under "the rule of 80" (the sum of age and years of service equals or exceeds 80). Similar requirements are imposed for the UT and A&M plans.

            A waiting period equal to the first day of the calendar month after 90 days of employment is required for enrollment in the ERS, UT, and A&M plans as an employee. For the ERS plan, "full-time employee" is redefined as someone who normally works at least 40, rather than 20, hours a week, with discretionary exceptions for a few educational institutions. For the UT and A&M plans, adjunct professors are allowed to participate under certain circumstances.

            The bill returns the $1,000-a-year stipend to active school district employees for health insurance or other purposes, beginning September 1, 2005; transfers $42 million from the active school employees plan to the retired school employees plan; and raises the contribution rate of active school employees to the retired school employees plan from 0.25 to 0.5 percent of salary.

            The bill also requires the A&M plan to elect whether to join the ERS plan by November 1, 2004.