By: McCoulskey H.B. No. 1903
73R4340 GCH-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to membership in the Employees Retirement System of Texas.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Sections 812.003(a) and (c), Government Code, are
1-5 amended to read as follows:
1-6 (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), membership in the
1-7 employee class of the retirement system includes all employees and
1-8 appointed officers of every department, commission, board, agency,
1-9 or institution of the state except:
1-10 (1) independent contractors and their employees
1-11 performing work for the state;
1-12 (2) persons disqualified from membership under Section
1-13 812.201; <and>
1-14 (3) persons disqualified from membership under Section
1-15 812.004; and
1-16 (4) persons who waive membership under Section
1-17 812.0041.
1-18 (c) Membership in the employee class is mandatory for
1-19 eligible persons, except as provided by Section 812.0041.
1-20 SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 812, Government Code, is
1-21 amended by adding Section 812.0041 to read as follows:
1-22 Sec. 812.0041. WAIVER BY CERTAIN LEGISLATIVE EMPLOYEES. (a)
1-23 A person who, in the month a regular session of the legislature
1-24 begins, becomes employed by the senate, the house of
2-1 representatives, the lieutenant governor, or a member of the
2-2 legislature in employment projected to end when the regular
2-3 legislative session is over may elect to waive membership in the
2-4 employee class of membership and in the retirement system.
2-5 (b) A person may make an election under this section by
2-6 filing an election to waive membership, on a form prescribed by the
2-7 retirement system, with the retirement system before the first day
2-8 of the month after the month in which a regular legislative session
2-9 begins. The election must contain a statement signed by the
2-10 payroll officer for the person's employer that the person's current
2-11 employment is not expected to last beyond the regular legislative
2-12 session.
2-13 (c) A person who makes an election under this section is not
2-14 entitled to membership in the retirement system for the duration of
2-15 the employment, whether or not the employment lasts longer than the
2-16 regular legislative session.
2-17 (d) A person who resumes employment described by Subsection
2-18 (a) may make an election under Subsection (a) in the manner
2-19 provided by Subsection (b) as if the employment were a first
2-20 employment.
2-21 (e) A person may make an election under this section whether
2-22 or not the person at the time of the election is a member of the
2-23 retirement system. If a person who makes an election under this
2-24 section is a member of the retirement system, the filing of the
2-25 election is considered a termination of membership.
2-26 (f) In addition to any refund to which a person is otherwise
2-27 entitled on termination of membership, a person who makes an
3-1 election under this section is entitled to a refund of any member
3-2 contribution that was deducted from the person's compensation for
3-3 the month in which the election was made.
3-4 (g) Service performed by a person during a period that the
3-5 person's waiver is in effect is not subsequently creditable in the
3-6 retirement system.
3-7 SECTION 3. (a) A person who would have been eligible to
3-8 make an election under Section 812.0041, Government Code, as added
3-9 by this Act, in January 1993 if this Act had been in effect may
3-10 make the election provided by that section by filing the election
3-11 not later than the 31st day after the day this Act takes effect.
3-12 (b) The effect of an election made under this section is the
3-13 same as the effect of an election made under Section 812.0041,
3-14 Government Code, as added by this Act, except that a person who
3-15 makes an election under this section is entitled to a refund of all
3-16 member contributions made during the regular session of the 73rd
3-17 Legislature.
3-18 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-19 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-20 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-21 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-22 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-23 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-24 passage, and it is so enacted.