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 Section 606.065, Government Code, is repealed.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.