By: Bivins S.B. No. 102
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to state employee contributions to the federal old age and
1-2 survivors insurance program.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 606.064, Government Code, is amended to
1-5 read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 606.064. EMPLOYEE CONTRIBUTIONS <BY STATE AGENCY>.
1-7 (a) Each state employee, including a judge paid by the state, for
1-8 whom an agreement for social security coverage is in effect under
1-9 this subchapter shall pay contributions on wages in the amount of
1-10 the employee tax. <The state shall pay all contributions on wages
1-11 for social security coverage of a state employee except:>
1-12 <(1) as provided by Section 606.065; or>
1-13 <(2) the amount of the employee tax in excess of 5.85
1-14 percent of wages computed on a wage base of $16,500 in a calendar
1-15 year.>
1-16 (b) The obligation provided by this section is a condition
1-17 of employment or of holding office. <The legislature may provide
1-18 in the General Appropriations Act for a state contribution in
1-19 excess of the amount provided in Subsection (a)(2).>
1-20 <(c) A state employee is obligated to pay only the
1-21 difference between the amount the legislature provides and the
1-22 amount required by federal law.>
1-23 <(d) The contribution made by the state shall be paid from
1-24 the same fund from which an employee receives compensation.>
2-1 <(e) The comptroller may prorate the state's expected
2-2 contribution for an employee's employee tax over the portion of the
2-3 calendar year that the employee's salary is subject to the Federal
2-4 Insurance Contributions Act to equalize the employee's monthly
2-5 contributions during the portion of the year that the employee's
2-6 salary is subject to Federal Insurance Contributions Act taxes.>
2-7 SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 606.067, Government Code,
2-8 is amended to read as follows:
2-9 (a) For a state employee who is paid from the state
2-10 treasury, the legislature shall appropriate, from the same fund
2-11 from which the employee is paid, an amount equal to the <total of
2-12 the> state's contributions under Section 606.063 <and Section
2-13 606.064 or 606.065>.
2-14 SECTION 3. Section 606.065, Government Code, is repealed.
2-15 SECTION 4. The appropriations in the General Appropriations
2-16 Act for the state's contribution to the tax that state employees
2-17 and state-paid judges pay under the Federal Insurance Contributions
2-18 Act for the period beginning January 1, 1996, and ending August 31,
2-19 1997, are canceled and may not take effect. The appropriations for
2-20 the state's matching contribution are not affected by this section.
2-21 SECTION 5. (a) Notwithstanding Chapter 606, Government
2-22 Code, as it exists before Sections 1, 2, and 3 of this Act take
2-23 effect, the state is not obligated to pay any portion of the tax
2-24 that state employees and state-paid judges are required to pay
2-25 under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act for persons who were
2-26 not employed by state agencies or institutions or holding office as
2-27 state-paid judges on August 31, 1995.
3-1 (b) The state is obligated to pay in lieu of a portion of
3-2 the employee tax required by the Federal Insurance Contributions
3-3 Act supplemental pay and amounts equal to increased employee
3-4 retirement contributions as described by Subsection (d) of this
3-5 section to persons who were employed by state agencies or
3-6 institutions or holding office as state-paid judges on August 31,
3-7 1995.
3-8 (c) A person who was employed by a state agency or
3-9 institution or holding office as a state-paid judge on August 31,
3-10 1995, who remains employed or in office on September 1, 1995, and
3-11 who leaves state service after that date for less than two years is
3-12 entitled on return to state service to the supplemental pay and
3-13 amounts equal to increased employee retirement contributions being
3-14 paid to state employees earning the same salary who have not left
3-15 state service after August 31, 1995.
3-16 (d) This Act is contingent on the becoming law of an
3-17 appropriation for the fiscal biennium ending August 31, 1997, made
3-18 by the 74th Legislature at its regular session that provides
3-19 supplemental pay, beginning January 1, 1996, to all persons who
3-20 were employed by state agencies or institutions or holding office
3-21 as state-paid judges on August 31, 1995, who were eligible on that
3-22 date for state payment of employee contributions under Chapter 606,
3-23 Government Code, and who remain employed or in office on September
3-24 1, 1995, in an amount that equals 5.85 percent of the first $16,500
3-25 earned in a calendar year, plus an additional amount equal to the
3-26 increased employee contributions resulting from this Act to the
3-27 Employees Retirement System of Texas, the Teacher Retirement System
4-1 of Texas, the optional retirement program governed by Chapter 830,
4-2 Government Code, the Judicial Retirement System Plan One, and the
4-3 Judicial Retirement System Plan Two. A general increase in
4-4 salaries for state employees and state-paid judges that does not
4-5 include amounts appropriated specifically to compensate for the
4-6 reductions in net pay resulting from Section 4 of this Act does not
4-7 satisfy the contingency of this subsection. Before January 1,
4-8 1996, the comptroller of public accounts shall determine whether an
4-9 appropriation described by this section has become law and publish
4-10 a finding in that regard in the Texas Register. If an
4-11 appropriation described by this subsection does not become law, as
4-12 determined by the comptroller, this Act has no effect.
4-13 (e) Except as provided by Subsection (f) of this section,
4-14 this Act takes effect January 1, 1996.
4-15 (f) This subsection and Subsections (a) and (d) of this
4-16 section take effect September 1, 1995.
4-17 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
4-18 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-19 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-20 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-21 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.