1-1 By: Bivins S.B. No. 102
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed November 29, 1994; January 11, 1995,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Finance;
1-4 January 26, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas
1-5 9, Nays 1; January 26, 1995, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to state employee contributions to the federal old age and
1-9 survivors insurance program.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Section 606.064, Government Code, is amended to
1-12 read as follows:
1-13 Sec. 606.064. EMPLOYEE CONTRIBUTIONS <BY STATE AGENCY>.
1-14 (a) Each state employee, including a judge paid by the state, for
1-15 whom an agreement for social security coverage is in effect under
1-16 this subchapter shall pay contributions on wages in the amount of
1-17 the employee tax. <The state shall pay all contributions on wages
1-18 for social security coverage of a state employee except:>
1-19 <(1) as provided by Section 606.065; or>
1-20 <(2) the amount of the employee tax in excess of 5.85
1-21 percent of wages computed on a wage base of $16,500 in a calendar
1-22 year.>
1-23 (b) The obligation provided by this section is a condition
1-24 of employment or of holding office. <The legislature may provide
1-25 in the General Appropriations Act for a state contribution in
1-26 excess of the amount provided in Subsection (a)(2).>
1-27 <(c) A state employee is obligated to pay only the
1-28 difference between the amount the legislature provides and the
1-29 amount required by federal law.>
1-30 <(d) The contribution made by the state shall be paid from
1-31 the same fund from which an employee receives compensation.>
1-32 <(e) The comptroller may prorate the state's expected
1-33 contribution for an employee's employee tax over the portion of the
1-34 calendar year that the employee's salary is subject to the Federal
1-35 Insurance Contributions Act to equalize the employee's monthly
1-36 contributions during the portion of the year that the employee's
1-37 salary is subject to Federal Insurance Contributions Act taxes.>
1-38 SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 606.067, Government Code,
1-39 is amended to read as follows:
1-40 (a) For a state employee who is paid from the state
1-41 treasury, the legislature shall appropriate, from the same fund
1-42 from which the employee is paid, an amount equal to the <total of
1-43 the> state's contributions under Section 606.063 <and Section
1-44 606.064 or 606.065>.
1-45 SECTION 3. Section 606.065, Government Code, is repealed.
1-46 SECTION 4. The appropriations in the General Appropriations
1-47 Act for the state's contribution to the tax that state employees
1-48 and state-paid judges pay under the Federal Insurance Contributions
1-49 Act for the period beginning January 1, 1996, and ending August 31,
1-50 1997, are canceled and may not take effect. The appropriations for
1-51 the state's matching contribution are not affected by this section.
1-52 SECTION 5. (a) Notwithstanding Chapter 606, Government
1-53 Code, as it exists before Sections 1, 2, and 3 of this Act take
1-54 effect, the state is not obligated to pay any portion of the tax
1-55 that state employees and state-paid judges are required to pay
1-56 under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act for persons who were
1-57 not employed by state agencies or institutions or holding office as
1-58 state-paid judges on August 31, 1995.
1-59 (b) The state is obligated to pay in lieu of a portion of
1-60 the employee tax required by the Federal Insurance Contributions
1-61 Act supplemental pay and amounts equal to increased employee
1-62 retirement contributions as described by Subsection (d) of this
1-63 section to persons who were employed by state agencies or
1-64 institutions or holding office as state-paid judges on August 31,
1-65 1995.
1-66 (c) A person who was employed by a state agency or
1-67 institution or holding office as a state-paid judge on August 31,
1-68 1995, who remains employed or in office on September 1, 1995, and
2-1 who leaves state service after that date for less than two years is
2-2 entitled on return to state service to the supplemental pay and
2-3 amounts equal to increased employee retirement contributions being
2-4 paid to state employees earning the same salary who have not left
2-5 state service after August 31, 1995.
2-6 (d) This Act is contingent on the becoming law of an
2-7 appropriation for the fiscal biennium ending August 31, 1997, made
2-8 by the 74th Legislature at its regular session that provides
2-9 supplemental pay, beginning January 1, 1996, to all persons who
2-10 were employed by state agencies or institutions or holding office
2-11 as state-paid judges on August 31, 1995, who were eligible on that
2-12 date for state payment of employee contributions under Chapter 606,
2-13 Government Code, and who remain employed or in office on September
2-14 1, 1995, in an amount that equals 5.85 percent of the first $16,500
2-15 earned in a calendar year, plus an additional amount equal to the
2-16 increased employee contributions resulting from this Act to the
2-17 Employees Retirement System of Texas, the Teacher Retirement System
2-18 of Texas, the optional retirement program governed by Chapter 830,
2-19 Government Code, the Judicial Retirement System Plan One, and the
2-20 Judicial Retirement System Plan Two. A general increase in
2-21 salaries for state employees and state-paid judges that does not
2-22 include amounts appropriated specifically to compensate for the
2-23 reductions in net pay resulting from Section 4 of this Act does not
2-24 satisfy the contingency of this subsection. Before January 1,
2-25 1996, the comptroller of public accounts shall determine whether an
2-26 appropriation described by this section has become law and publish
2-27 a finding in that regard in the Texas Register. If an
2-28 appropriation described by this subsection does not become law, as
2-29 determined by the comptroller, this Act has no effect.
2-30 (e) Except as provided by Subsection (f) of this section,
2-31 this Act takes effect January 1, 1996.
2-32 (f) This subsection and Subsections (a) and (d) of this
2-33 section take effect September 1, 1995.
2-34 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
2-35 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-36 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-37 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-38 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-39 * * * * *