1-1 By: Turner of Harris (Senate Sponsor - Whitmire) H.B. No. 1417
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 8, 1995;
1-3 May 9, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Intergovernmental Relations; May 17, 1995, reported favorably by
1-5 the following vote: Yeas 10, Nays 0; May 17, 1995, sent to
1-6 printer.)
1-7 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-8 AN ACT
1-9 relating to benefits for certain survivors of deceased police
1-10 officers under the police officers' pension systems of certain
1-11 cities.
1-12 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13 SECTION 1. Section 13(a), Chapter 76, Acts of the 50th
1-14 Legislature, Regular Session, 1947 (Article 6243g-1, Vernon's Texas
1-15 Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-16 (a) If any member of the police department who has been
1-17 retired on allowance because of length of service or disability
1-18 thereafter dies <on or after July 1, 1986,> from any cause
1-19 whatsoever after he has become entitled to an allowance or pension,
1-20 and leaves a surviving spouse, a child or children under the age of
1-21 eighteen (18) years or a dependent parent, the Board shall order
1-22 paid a monthly allowance as follows: (a) to the surviving spouse,
1-23 <so long as he or she remains a widow or widower,> a sum equal to
1-24 the allowance which was granted to the member upon service or
1-25 disability pension based on his length of service in the police
1-26 department; (b) to the guardian of each child, the sum of
1-27 twenty-five ($25) Dollars a month until the child reaches the age
1-28 of eighteen (18) years or marries; (c) to the guardian of each
1-29 child, only in case no spouse is entitled to an allowance, the sum
1-30 the spouse would have received, to be divided equally among the
1-31 unmarried children under eighteen (18) years; (d) to the dependent
1-32 parent, only in case no spouse or dependent child is entitled to an
1-33 allowance, the sum the spouse would have received, to be paid to
1-34 but one (1) parent and such parent to be determined by the Pension
1-35 Board.
1-36 SECTION 2. Section 1(p), Article 6243g-3, Revised Statutes,
1-37 is amended to read as follows:
1-38 (p) "Surviving spouse" means a person:
1-39 (1) who was married to a deceased active member at the
1-40 time of the member's death, or to a deceased retired member before
1-41 the member's retirement or for a period of at least five years
1-42 before the member's death, and whose marriage was recorded in the
1-43 records of the recorder's office in the county in which the
1-44 marriage ceremony was performed<, and who remains unmarried, never
1-45 having had another marriage certificate recorded in any county's
1-46 recording office after the date of the member's death>; or
1-47 (2) who has on file with the pension board a
1-48 declaration of common-law marriage supported by evidence as
1-49 required by the board and signed by the member and the member's
1-50 common-law spouse before a notary public.
1-51 SECTION 3. Section 21(b), Article 6243g-3, Revised Statutes,
1-52 is amended to read as follows:
1-53 (b) A survivor's pension shall begin when the member or
1-54 retired member dies. If payable to a surviving spouse who
1-55 subsequently dies <or marries>, it shall become payable in the
1-56 following month only to a surviving dependent child as defined in
1-57 Section 1 of this article. If payable to a dependent child who
1-58 dies or fails to meet the conditions of eligibility in Section 1 of
1-59 this article, the pension shall then cease. If payable to a
1-60 parent, it shall cease with the month in which the parent dies.
1-61 SECTION 4. Section 2(j), Chapter 76, Acts of the 50th
1-62 Legislature, Regular Session, 1947 (Article 6243g-1, Vernon's Texas
1-63 Civil Statutes), is repealed.
1-64 SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
1-65 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
1-66 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-67 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-68 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-1 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-2 * * * * *