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Senate Bill 200 |
Senate Author: Patrick et al. |
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Effective: See below |
House Sponsor: Anchia |
Senate Bill 200 amends the Government Code to continue the State Pension Review Board until September 1, 2025, and to incorporate across-the-board sunset provisions relating to prohibited conflicts of interest for board members and to the development and implementation of negotiated rulemaking and alternative dispute resolution procedures. The bill also repeals a provision requiring the legislature's presiding officers each to appoint a legislative member to the board, reducing the number of board members from nine to seven; provides for the expiration of those two legislative members' terms on September 1, 2013; and makes the necessary provisions to maintain the staggered six-year terms for the governor's appointees to the board.
Senate Bill 200 authorizes the board to develop and conduct training sessions and other educational activities for trustees and administrators of public retirement systems.
Senate Bill 200 exempts a defined contribution plan, as defined by the bill, and certain local volunteer firefighter retirement systems from administrative requirements for studies and reports regarding the conduct of actuarial valuations and audits of those evaluations, the system's financial condition, membership, and investment policies. The bill also exempts those local volunteer firefighter retirement systems from a requirement for an annual audit of their accounts by a certified public accountant. The bill requires a public retirement system, other than the statewide retirement systems for state employees, teachers, county and district employees, municipal employees, and certain judicial officers, that conducts an actuarial experience study in which actuarial assumptions are examined with the purpose of determining whether those assumptions need adjusting to submit to the board a copy of the study within 31 days of the study's adoption and requires a public retirement system to submit to the pension review board a summary of any significant change affecting contributions, benefits, or eligibility within 31 days, rather than within 271 days, after the date the change is adopted.
Senate Bill 200, effective January 1, 2014, prohibits the statewide retirement systems for state employees, teachers, municipal employees, county and district employees, and emergency services personnel from investing in companies that engage in scrutinized business operations in Iran and requires those systems' divestment of any direct or indirect holdings in companies that fail either to cease their scrutinized business operations or to convert the operations to inactive business operations in order to avoid divestment by those public retirement systems. The prohibition on investment in Iran expires on the earlier of the date the United States revokes its sanctions against the government of Iran or the date the U.S. Congress or the president declares that mandatory divestment interferes with U.S. foreign policy. Until then, the bill requires each affected retirement system to file a publicly available report with the legislature's presiding officers and the attorney general identifying all securities sold, redeemed, divested, or withdrawn in compliance with the mandatory divestment and all prohibited investments and summarizing any changes involving prohibited investments. The bill authorizes the attorney general to bring any action to enforce these laws prohibiting investment in Iran and requires the board, not later than January 1, 2014, to prepare and provide a list of scrutinized companies to each affected retirement system.
Senate Bill 200 amends the Texas Local Fire Fighters Retirement Act to make a conforming change.
Except as otherwise provided, Senate Bill 200 takes effect September 1, 2013.