By Johnson H.B. No. 2709
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the funding of the Texas Public School Retired
1-3 Employees Group Insurance Program.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 16 of Article 3.50-4, Texas Insurance
1-6 Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 16 (a) <For the state fiscal year beginning September
1-8 1, 1985, and for each subsequent state fiscal year, each> Each
1-9 active employee, as a condition of employment, shall contribute to
1-10 the fund an amount equal to .425 <.25> percent of the employee's
1-11 salary. Each month the employer of an active employee shall deduct
1-12 the contributions from the employee's salary and shall remit the
1-13 contributions to the trustee as provided by any procedures that the
1-14 trustee may require. In lieu of deducting the contributions from
1-15 salaries, an employer may assume and pay the total contributions
1-16 due from its active employees for any month.
1-17 (b) The state shall contribute as the state's contribution
1-18 to the fund an amount equal to .85 percent of the salary of each
1-19 active employee. <the following amounts:>
1-20 <(1) for the state fiscal year beginning September 1,
1-21 1986, an amount equal to .35 percent of the salary of each active
1-22 employee;>
1-23 <(2) for the state fiscal year beginning September 1,
2-1 1987, an amount equal to .40 percent of the salary of each active
2-2 employee;>
2-3 <(3) for the state fiscal year beginning September 1,
2-4 1988, an amount equal to .45 percent of the salary of each active
2-5 employee;>
2-6 <(4) for the state fiscal year beginning of the salary
2-7 of each active employee; and>
2-8 <(5) for the state fiscal year beginning September 1,
2-9 1990, and each subsequent fiscal year, an amount equal to .50
2-10 percent of the salary of each active employee.>
2-11 (c) If <after the state fiscal year beginning September 1,
2-12 1990,> the amount of state and active employee contributions to the
2-13 fund is raised by the legislature above the percentages provided by
2-14 Subsections (a) and (b) of this section to provide adequate funding
2-15 for the program, the ratio between the state's contribution and the
2-16 active employees' contributions must be maintained at two to one,
2-17 (d) Contributions from active employees become the property
2-18 of the fund on receipt by the trustee and may not be refunded to
2-19 the active employee under any circumstances, including termination
2-20 of employment,
2-21 (e) Contributions to the fund deducted from the salary of an
2-22 active employee are included in "annual compensation" for purposes
2-23 of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.
2-24 (f) Before the first day of November preceding each regular
2-25 session of the legislature, the trustee shall certify to the
3-1 Legislative Budget Board and the budget division of the governor's
3-2 office the amounts under this article for information and review.
3-3 Not later than August 31 of each year, the trustee shall certify to
3-4 the comptroller of public accounts the estimated amount of state
3-5 contributions to be received by the fund for the next fiscal year
3-6 under the appropriations authorized by this article.
3-7 (g) Contributions allocated and appropriated under this
3-8 section shall be paid from the General Revenue Fund in equal
3-9 monthly installments, based on the annual estimate certified by the
3-10 trustee to the comptroller of public accounts for that year, and
3-11 subject to any express limitations specified in the Act making the
3-12 appropriation. Variations between the certified amount and the
3-13 actual amount due for the year shall be reconciled at the close of
3-14 the fiscal year and proper adjustments in the annual contributions
3-15 to the fund shall be made.
3-16 (h) An employing district that fails to remit, before the
3-17 11th day after the last day of the month, all member deposits
3-18 required by this section to be remitted by the district for the
3-19 month shall pay to the Texas Public School Retired Employees Group
3-20 Insurance Fund, in addition to the deposits, interest on the unpaid
3-21 amounts at the annual rate of six percent compounded monthly.
3-22 (i) An employing district and its trustees hold amounts due
3-23 to the Texas Public School Retired Employees Group Insurance Fund
3-24 under this article in trust for the fund and its participant's and
3-25 may not divert the amounts for any other purpose.
4-1 SECTION 2. This act takes effect September 1, 1994.
4-2 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
4-3 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-6 days in each house is suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-7 and that this Act take effect and be in force according to its
4-8 terms, and it is so enacted.