By: Martin H.B. No. 660
73R570 GCH-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the effect of certain types of divorce decrees on
1-3 retirement benefits payable by the Teacher Retirement System of
1-4 Texas.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 824.101(c), Government Code, is amended
1-7 to read as follows:
1-8 (c) Only one person may be designated as beneficiary of an
1-9 optional retirement annuity under Section 824.204(c)(1) or (c)(2),
1-10 and a designation of beneficiary under either of those options may
1-11 not be made, changed, or revoked after the date of the member's
1-12 retirement, except as provided by Section 824.107.
1-13 SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 824, Government Code, is
1-14 amended by adding Section 824.107 to read as follows:
1-15 Sec. 824.107. REVOCATION OF BENEFICIARY BY DIVORCE DECREE.
1-16 (a) In this section, "divorce decree" means a judgment, decree, or
1-17 order, including a document approving a property settlement
1-18 agreement, that is issued by a court under a domestic relations law
1-19 of this or another state in conjunction with the dissolution of a
1-20 marriage and that relates to the marital property rights of a
1-21 member or retiree and that person's former spouse.
1-22 (b) If the retirement system receives a certified copy of a
1-23 divorce decree that purports to revoke or order the revocation of a
1-24 designation by a member or retiree of a beneficiary under this
2-1 subchapter, the retirement system shall change its records in
2-2 accordance with the decree.
2-3 (c) If a divorce decree revokes or orders the revocation of
2-4 a designation of a beneficiary made by a member, or by a retiree
2-5 who selected an optional retirement annuity other than an annuity
2-6 described by Section 824.204(c)(1) or (c)(2), the member or retiree
2-7 may select another beneficiary in the manner provided by this
2-8 subchapter.
2-9 (d) If a divorce decree revokes or orders the revocation of
2-10 a designation of a beneficiary made by a retiree who selected an
2-11 optional retirement annuity under Section 824.204(c)(1) or (c)(2),
2-12 the retiree may not select another beneficiary, but the retirement
2-13 system shall increase the retiree's reduced annuity to the standard
2-14 service retirement annuity that the retiree would otherwise be
2-15 entitled to receive if the retiree had not selected an optional
2-16 annuity. The retirement system shall adjust the standard annuity
2-17 as appropriate for early retirement as permitted by law and
2-18 postretirement benefit increases provided after the date of the
2-19 retiree's retirement.
2-20 (e) Payment of an annuity increased under Subsection (d)
2-21 begins with the payment for the month after the month in which the
2-22 retirement system receives a copy of the retiree's divorce decree
2-23 and is payable to the retiree for the remainder of the retiree's
2-24 life.
2-25 SECTION 3. If the Teacher Retirement System of Texas
2-26 received before the effective date of this Act a certified copy of
2-27 a divorce decree that purports to revoke or order the revocation of
3-1 a designation of a beneficiary by a member or retiree of the
3-2 retirement system, the retirement system shall change its records
3-3 and, as appropriate, begin payment of any increased annuity with
3-4 the payment for the month after the month in which this Act takes
3-5 effect.
3-6 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-7 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-8 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-9 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-10 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-11 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-12 passage, and it is so enacted.