By Rangel H.B. No. 2312
74R7243 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. Subchapter B, Chapter 824, Government Code, is
1-7 amended by adding Section 824.107 to read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 824.107. REVOCATION OF BENEFICIARY BY DIVORCE DECREE.
1-9 (a) In this section, "divorce decree" means a judgment, decree,
1-10 order, or qualified domestic relations order, including a document
1-11 approving a property settlement agreement, that is issued by a
1-12 court under a domestic relations law of this or another state in
1-13 conjunction with the dissolution of a marriage and that relates to
1-14 the marital property rights of a retiree and that person's former
1-15 spouse.
1-16 (b) If the retirement system receives a certified copy of a
1-17 divorce decree that purports to revoke or order the revocation of a
1-18 designation by a retiree of a beneficiary under this subchapter,
1-19 accompanied by a written directive from a retiree requesting the
1-20 change, the retirement system shall change its records in
1-21 accordance with the directive and decree.
1-22 (c) If a divorce decree revokes or orders the revocation of
1-23 a designation of a beneficiary made by a retiree who retired under
1-24 an optional retirement annuity described by Section 824.204(c)(1)
2-1 or (c)(2), the retiree may select a standard retirement annuity or
2-2 another beneficiary for the optional retirement annuity selected
2-3 at the time of retirement. If the retirement system receives from
2-4 a retiree who retired under an optional retirement annuity a
2-5 written directive and certified decree described by this section
2-6 that revokes a beneficiary designation but does not designate a
2-7 substitute beneficiary, the retiree is considered to have selected
2-8 a standard retirement annuity, and the retirement system shall
2-9 recompute the annuity of the retiree as a standard annuity. If the
2-10 retiree later designates another beneficiary by written directive
2-11 filed with the retirement system, the retirement system shall
2-12 recompute and reinstate the optional annuity giving effect to the
2-13 new beneficiary designation prospectively only. A retiree may make
2-14 a change of beneficiary under this subsection only to a spouse and
2-15 only once during the retiree's lifetime.
2-16 (d) The retirement system shall recompute the annuity of a
2-17 retiree who makes a selection under Subsection (c) to reflect that
2-18 selection and shall adjust the annuity as appropriate for early
2-19 retirement and postretirement increases provided after the date of
2-20 the retiree's retirement. The retirement system by rule shall
2-21 provide for the recovery of the actuarial value, if any, of the
2-22 difference between payments under the original and recomputed
2-23 annuities by adjusting the recomputed annuity to equal the
2-24 actuarial present value of the original retirement annuity as of
2-25 the date the retirement system received the directive to change the
2-26 beneficiary.
2-27 (e) Payment of a recomputed annuity begins with payment for
3-1 the month after the month in which the retirement system receives
3-2 the actuarial recomputation.
3-3 (f) The retirement system shall determine whether a divorce
3-4 decree purporting to revoke a beneficiary designation under this
3-5 section clearly revokes or permits the revocation of a beneficiary
3-6 designation. The retirement system may decline to implement a
3-7 beneficiary change if it determines that the decree fails to
3-8 specify clearly that a beneficiary change is within the scope of
3-9 the decree. The court that issued the decree or that would
3-10 otherwise have jurisdiction over the matter has jurisdiction to
3-11 amend the decree to clarify the scope of the decree, even if all
3-12 other matters relating to the action or proceeding have been fully
3-13 and finally adjudicated.
3-14 (g) A determination by the retirement system under this
3-15 section may be appealed only to a district court of Travis County.
3-16 The retirement system, the board of trustees, and officers and
3-17 employees of the retirement system are not liable to any person for
3-18 making or failing to make a beneficiary designation change pursuant
3-19 to a decree submitted under this section.
3-20 (h) The board of trustees may adopt rules it considers
3-21 necessary to implement this section.
3-22 SECTION 2. If the Teacher Retirement System of Texas
3-23 receives a certified copy of a divorce decree that was entered
3-24 before the effective date of this Act and that purports to revoke
3-25 or order the revocation of a designation of a beneficiary by a
3-26 retiree of the retirement system, on receipt of a written directive
3-27 from the retiree, the retirement system shall change its records
4-1 and, as appropriate, begin payments of any recomputed annuity, as
4-2 provided by Section 824.107, Government Code, as added by this Act,
4-3 as if the decree were entered after the effective date of this Act.
4-4 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
4-5 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-6 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-7 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-8 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-9 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-10 passage, and it is so enacted.