1-1 By: Henderson S.B. No. 901 1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 2, 1995; March 6, 1995, read 1-3 first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs; May 5, 1995, 1-4 reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 12, Nays 1; 1-5 May 5, 1995, sent to printer.) 1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-7 AN ACT 1-8 relating to the investments of participants in the optional 1-9 retirement program for faculty members employed in state-supported 1-10 institutions of higher education. 1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-12 SECTION 1. Section 830.002, Government Code, is amended by 1-13 adding Subsection (d) to read as follows: 1-14 (d) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board may 1-15 establish minimum standards that an insurance or annuity company 1-16 must meet to be eligible to offer a participant in the optional 1-17 retirement program an investment or retirement annuity authorized 1-18 under Subsection (a) and Section 830.004, but may not otherwise 1-19 restrict: 1-20 (1) the insurance or annuity company with whom a 1-21 participant may make an investment or from whom a participant may 1-22 purchase an annuity under the program; or 1-23 (2) the investment in which a participant may 1-24 participate or the annuity a participant may purchase under the 1-25 program. 1-26 SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 830.004, Government Code, 1-27 is amended to read as follows: 1-28 (a) A governing board may provide for contributions to any 1-29 type of investment authorized by Section 403(b) of the Internal 1-30 Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. Section 403), as it existed on 1-31 January 1, 1981, and may arrange the purchase of annuity contracts 1-32 from any insurance or annuity company that is qualified to do 1-33 business in this state. A governing board may not restrict the 1-34 investment in which a participant may participate or the annuity a 1-35 participant may purchase under the program if the investment or 1-36 annuity is authorized by this subsection and Section 830.002(a). A 1-37 governing board may not restrict the insurance or annuity company 1-38 with whom a participant may make an investment or from whom a 1-39 participant may purchase an annuity if the company is eligible 1-40 under the standards established under Section 830.002(d). 1-41 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the 1-42 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 1-43 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 1-44 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 1-45 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 1-46 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 1-47 passage, and it is so enacted. 1-48 * * * * *