By Bivins                                              S.B. No. 102
       74R863 GCH-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to state employee contributions to the federal old age and
    1-3  survivors insurance program.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 606.064, Government Code, is amended to
    1-6  read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 606.064.  EMPLOYEE CONTRIBUTIONS <BY STATE AGENCY>.  (a)
    1-8  Each state employee, including a judge paid by the state, for whom
    1-9  an agreement for social security coverage is in effect under this
   1-10  subchapter shall pay contributions on wages in the amount of the
   1-11  employee tax.  <The state shall pay all contributions on wages for
   1-12  social security coverage of a state employee except:>
   1-13              <(1)  as provided by Section 606.065; or>
   1-14              <(2)  the amount of the employee tax in excess of 5.85
   1-15  percent of wages computed on a wage base of $16,500 in a calendar
   1-16  year.>
   1-17        (b)  The obligation provided by this section is a condition
   1-18  of employment or of holding office.  <The legislature may provide
   1-19  in the General Appropriations Act for a state contribution in
   1-20  excess of the amount provided in Subsection (a)(2).>
   1-21        <(c)  A state employee is obligated to pay only the
   1-22  difference between the amount the legislature provides and the
   1-23  amount required by federal law.>
   1-24        <(d)  The contribution made by the state shall be paid from
    2-1  the same fund from which an employee receives compensation.>
    2-2        <(e)  The comptroller may prorate the state's expected
    2-3  contribution for an employee's employee tax over the portion of the
    2-4  calendar year that the employee's salary is subject to the Federal
    2-5  Insurance Contributions Act to equalize the employee's monthly
    2-6  contributions during the portion of the year that the employee's
    2-7  salary is subject to Federal Insurance Contributions Act taxes.>
    2-8        SECTION 2.  Section 606.067(a), Government Code, is amended
    2-9  to read as follows:
   2-10        (a)  For a state employee who is paid from the state
   2-11  treasury, the legislature shall appropriate, from the same fund
   2-12  from which the employee is paid, an amount equal to the <total of
   2-13  the> state's contributions under Section 606.063 <and Section
   2-14  606.064 or 606.065>.
   2-15        SECTION 3.  Section 606.065, Government Code, is repealed.
   2-16        SECTION 4.  The appropriations in the General Appropriations
   2-17  Act for the state's contribution to the tax that state employees
   2-18  and state-paid judges pay under the Federal Insurance Contributions
   2-19  Act for the period beginning January 1, 1996, and ending August 31,
   2-20  1997, are canceled and may not take effect.  The appropriations for
   2-21  the state's matching contribution are not affected by this section.
   2-22        SECTION 5.  (a)  Notwithstanding Chapter 606, Government
   2-23  Code, as it exists before Sections 1, 2, and 3 of this Act take
   2-24  effect, the state is not obligated to pay any portion of the tax
   2-25  that state employees and state-paid judges are required to pay
   2-26  under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act for persons who were
   2-27  not employed by state agencies or institutions or holding office as
    3-1  state-paid judges on August 31, 1995.
    3-2        (b)  The state is obligated to pay in lieu of a portion of
    3-3  the employee tax required by the Federal Insurance Contributions
    3-4  Act supplemental pay and amounts equal to increased employee
    3-5  retirement contributions as described by Subsection (d) of this
    3-6  section to persons who were employed by state agencies or
    3-7  institutions or holding office as state-paid judges on August 31,
    3-8  1995.
    3-9        (c)  A person who was employed by a state agency or
   3-10  institution or holding office as a state-paid judge on August 31,
   3-11  1995, who remains employed or in office on September 1, 1995, and
   3-12  who leaves state service after that date for less than two years is
   3-13  entitled on return to state service to the supplemental pay and
   3-14  amounts equal to increased employee retirement contributions being
   3-15  paid to state employees earning the same salary who have not left
   3-16  state service after August 31, 1995.
   3-17        (d)  This Act is contingent on the becoming law of an
   3-18  appropriation for the fiscal biennium ending August 31, 1997, made
   3-19  by the 74th Legislature at its regular session that provides
   3-20  supplemental pay, beginning January 1, 1996, to all persons who
   3-21  were employed by state agencies or institutions or holding office
   3-22  as state-paid judges on August 31, 1995, who were eligible on that
   3-23  date for state payment of employee contributions under Chapter 606,
   3-24  Government Code, and who remain employed or in office on September
   3-25  1, 1995, in an amount that equals 5.85 percent of the first $16,500
   3-26  earned in a calendar year, plus an additional amount equal to the
   3-27  increased employee contributions resulting from this Act to the
    4-1  Employees Retirement System of Texas, the Teacher Retirement System
    4-2  of Texas, the optional retirement program governed by Chapter 830,
    4-3  Government Code, the Judicial Retirement System Plan One, and the
    4-4  Judicial Retirement System Plan Two.  A general increase in
    4-5  salaries for state employees and state-paid judges that does not
    4-6  include amounts appropriated specifically to compensate for the
    4-7  reductions in net pay resulting from Section 4 of this Act does not
    4-8  satisfy the contingency of this subsection.  Before January 1,
    4-9  1996, the comptroller of public accounts shall determine whether an
   4-10  appropriation described by this section has become law and publish
   4-11  a finding in that regard in the Texas Register.  If an
   4-12  appropriation described by this subsection does not become law, as
   4-13  determined by the comptroller, this Act has no effect.
   4-14        (e)  Except as provided by Subsection (f) of this section,
   4-15  this Act takes effect January 1, 1996.
   4-16        (f)  This subsection and Subsections (a) and (d) of this
   4-17  section take effect September 1, 1995.
   4-18        SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
   4-19  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   4-20  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   4-21  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   4-22  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.