H.B. No. 1417
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to benefits for certain survivors of deceased police
1-3 officers under the police officers' pension systems of certain
1-4 cities.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 13(a), Chapter 76, Acts of the 50th
1-7 Legislature, Regular Session, 1947 (Article 6243g-1, Vernon's Texas
1-8 Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-9 (a) If any member of the police department who has been
1-10 retired on allowance because of length of service or disability
1-11 thereafter dies <on or after July 1, 1986,> from any cause
1-12 whatsoever after he has become entitled to an allowance or pension,
1-13 and leaves a surviving spouse, a child or children under the age of
1-14 eighteen (18) years or a dependent parent, the Board shall order
1-15 paid a monthly allowance as follows: (a) to the surviving spouse,
1-16 <so long as he or she remains a widow or widower,> a sum equal to
1-17 the allowance which was granted to the member upon service or
1-18 disability pension based on his length of service in the police
1-19 department; (b) to the guardian of each child, the sum of
1-20 twenty-five ($25) Dollars a month until the child reaches the age
1-21 of eighteen (18) years or marries; (c) to the guardian of each
1-22 child, only in case no spouse is entitled to an allowance, the sum
1-23 the spouse would have received, to be divided equally among the
1-24 unmarried children under eighteen (18) years; (d) to the dependent
2-1 parent, only in case no spouse or dependent child is entitled to an
2-2 allowance, the sum the spouse would have received, to be paid to
2-3 but one (1) parent and such parent to be determined by the Pension
2-4 Board.
2-5 SECTION 2. Section 1(p), Article 6243g-3, Revised Statutes,
2-6 is amended to read as follows:
2-7 (p) "Surviving spouse" means a person:
2-8 (1) who was married to a deceased active member at the
2-9 time of the member's death, or to a deceased retired member before
2-10 the member's retirement or for a period of at least five years
2-11 before the member's death, and whose marriage was recorded in the
2-12 records of the recorder's office in the county in which the
2-13 marriage ceremony was performed<, and who remains unmarried, never
2-14 having had another marriage certificate recorded in any county's
2-15 recording office after the date of the member's death>; or
2-16 (2) who has on file with the pension board a
2-17 declaration of common-law marriage supported by evidence as
2-18 required by the board and signed by the member and the member's
2-19 common-law spouse before a notary public.
2-20 SECTION 3. Section 21(b), Article 6243g-3, Revised Statutes,
2-21 is amended to read as follows:
2-22 (b) A survivor's pension shall begin when the member or
2-23 retired member dies. If payable to a surviving spouse who
2-24 subsequently dies <or marries>, it shall become payable in the
2-25 following month only to a surviving dependent child as defined in
2-26 Section 1 of this article. If payable to a dependent child who
2-27 dies or fails to meet the conditions of eligibility in Section 1 of
3-1 this article, the pension shall then cease. If payable to a
3-2 parent, it shall cease with the month in which the parent dies.
3-3 SECTION 4. Section 2(j), Chapter 76, Acts of the 50th
3-4 Legislature, Regular Session, 1947 (Article 6243g-1, Vernon's Texas
3-5 Civil Statutes), is repealed.
3-6 SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
3-7 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
3-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.