SBW C.S.H.B. 337 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS
PENSIONS & INVESTMENTS
C.S.H.B. 337
By: Telford
3-10-97
Committee Report (Substituted)
BACKGROUND
In 1977, the 65th legislature enacted the Statewide Volunteer Fire
Fighters' Retirement Fund and revised it in the 72nd Legislature in 1991.
The Fund is a statewide retirement system for volunteer firefighters.
The State Board of Trustees reviewed this revised edition of the Fund,
while fielding requests for changes from statewide committees and
participating departments. This bill includes the recommendations made
and approved by the State Board of Trustees at its December 6, 1996
meeting.
PURPOSE
The bill proposes the expansion of the Statewide Volunteer Fire Fighters'
Retirement Fund to include not only volunteer fire fighters, but also
volunteer rescue and emergency personnel. This bill includes a
recommendation to add the category of "auxiliary employee" to the Fund.
This bill also sets drill requirements from monthly to annual drills.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
Rulemaking authority is granted to the Texas Statewide Volunteer Fire
Fighters Retirement Board in Section 8 Subsection 21(b), Texas Statewide
Volunteer Fire Fighters Retirement Act (Article 6243e.3, Vernon's Texas
Civil Statutes).
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Section 1, Texas Statewide Volunteer Fire Fighters
Retirement Act (Article 6243e. 3, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), by
amending Subdivisions (1), (7), (9), (10), (11), and (13), and adding
Subdivisions (14) and (15).
(1) is amended by broadening the definition of the term "qualified
service" to allow for service of a participating department to be
recognized as an emergency department by its governing body. This
definition is expanded further by the department's performance of 48 hours
of drills in a calendar year by "a member in good standing" described as a
member in a participating department that has not fewer than 10 active
members and who attends at least 40 percent of the minimum number of hours
of annual drills and at least 25 percent of the department's emergencies
in a calendar year or is absent because of military duty.
(7) is amended by redefining the term "Fund" as statewide emergency
services personnel retirement fund and striking the terms "Fire Fighters'
Relief and Retirement Fund."
(9) is amended by broadening the term "member" as a volunteer or partly
paid employee, and striking the term "fire fighter."
(10) is amended by broadening the definition of the term "participating
department" to include any public entity that performs fire, rescue, or
emergency medical services, and striking the term "fire department."
(11) is amended by broadening the definition of "current pension plan" to
mean a pension plan fire, rescue, or emergency medical departments can
participate in by striking the term "fire [department]" and including the
term "participating [department]" as described in Subdivision (10).
(13) is amended by broadening the definition of the term "governing body"
to mean the governing body of any political subdivision of the state by
striking "within which a rural fire prevention district created pursuant
to the provisions of Chapter 794, Health and Safety Code, is situated or
the governing body of any city or town within which a fire department
subject to the provisions of this Act is situated."
(14) is amended by adding language to define the term "volunteer"
including any person not subject to the compensation requirements
described by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Section 201
et seq.) due to their civic, charitable, or humanitarian reasons for
performing a service for a participating department.
(15) is amended by adding language to define the term "auxiliary
employee" as a person in an appointed position or office of a
participating department requiring less than 1,000 hours of service per
year receiving compensation at a rate that does not exceed the federal
minimum wage by more than $2.00 per hour from and being certified by a
political subdivision of this state. Excludes a person who is eligible to
receive credit for the same service in either the Texas County District
Retirement System or the Texas Municipal Retirement System.
(16) Adds the definition of "emergency services" as being services
performed by a volunteer or auxiliary employee of a participating
department relating to fire, rescue and emergency medical services.
(17) Adds the definition of "emergency services personnel" to mean
persons who perform emergency services.
SECTION 2. Amends section 1A, Texas Statewide Volunteer Fire Fighters
Retirement Act (Article 6243e.3, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), to
redesignate the act as "Texas Statewide Emergency Services Retirement
Act," replacing the former designation of the "Texas Statewide Volunteer
Fire Fighters Retirement Act."
SECTION 3. Amends Sections 2(a), (c), and (f) Texas Statewide Volunteer
Fire Fighters Retirement Act (Article 6243e.3, Vernon's Texas Civil
Statutes).
(a) by broadening the definition of a trust fund in the state treasury to
include emergency services personnel.
(c) by specifying the qualifications of those eligible to participate in
the pension system and includes the amount and time of payment for each
member.
(f) to make clear that members who are volunteer are not receiving
compensation for service from any governing body.
SECTION 4. Amends Sections 2A, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, and 10 Texas Statewide
Volunteer Fire Fighters Retirement Act (Article 6243e.3, Vernon's Texas
Civil Statutes).
Section 2A MEMBERSHIP:
(a) is amended by broadening the definition of those who are members of
the pension system with the description as a volunteer or auxiliary
employee for participating departments.
(b) is amended by clarifying the definition of a person not considered to
be a member of the pension system. The phrase "of the fire department" in
the description of the exempt governing body is deleted to be replaced the
term "minor" to clarify a person less than 18 years of age. The term
"fire" is replaced with the addition of the term "participating" to
describe the department or governing body which does not make
contributions to a person under probationary service. The subsection also
adds the specification that a person is not a member of the pension system
if they are not certified to support their duties under Section 8 of this
Act. Included in the description of a person not qualified to be a member
of the pension system are those retired under the qualifications of this
Act, whether or not they continue to volunteer in the department.
(c) is amended by striking the term "fire" to be replaced with the term
"participating" in the description of a department. A member may perform
services for, and may receive retirement benefits from each department,
but in case of death, the member's beneficiary must choose between an
on-duty or off-duty benefit.
Section 3 RETIREMENT BENEFITS:
Subsections (a), (b), and (c) are amended by broadening the definition of
those who receive retirement benefits by striking the descriptive terms of
"fire-fighter" to be replaced by the term "member."
Section 4 DISABILITY BENEFITS:
Subsections (a), (b), and (c), are amended by striking the term "fire
fighter" to be replaced by the term "member" in the description of a
person eligible for disability benefits. The addition of the phrase
"emergency service" to describe the duties in which a member could have
been disabled. The addition of language to describe the entity for which a
person is unable to perform duties in order to be compensated with
benefits. The addition of the term "emergency service" in the description
of the duties in which a member was disabled in allowing for compensation
of $300 a month.
Section 5 DEATH BENEFITS:
Subsections (a), (b), (c), (d), and(g), are amended by striking out all
descriptions of members eligible for death benefits as "fire fighters" or
members of the fire department, to define members as those performing
emergency services as volunteers. The term "emergency service" is added
to define the duties performed during death for the beneficiary of a
member to receive benefit.
(h) is added to Section 5 to clarify the terms under which the spouse of a
deceased member who had terminated service with all departments before the
age of 55, but meeting the requirements listed in Section 6 of this Act in
which they would receive two-thirds the monthly pension of the deceased on
the day they would have attained the age of 55.
Section 8 CERTIFICATION OF PHYSICAL FITNESS: is amended to make clear
the importance of the acceptance of the board of trustees of the
certification of physical fitness for a prospective member to become a
member of the pension system.
Section 9 TRANSFER OF ACCRUED BENEFITS: is amended by broadening the
definition of a member of the pension system and to describe departments
as "participating" in the description of transfer of accrued benefits.
Section 10 ENTERING THE PENSION SYSTEM; REQUIRED ELECTION: is amended by
broadening the definition of a participating department and their
personnel in the election held within a participating department to enter
the pension system of this Act.
SECTION 5. Amends Sections 11(a), (d), (e), and (f) Texas Statewide
Volunteer Fire Fighters Retirement Act (Article 6243e.3, Vernon's Texas
Civil Statutes).
11(a) and (d) are amended to make clear the retirement benefits to
members of the pension system after the merger of the pension system in
this Act and the pension plan of the department.
11(e) and (f) are amended by broadening the definition of a department to
include all participating departments and by broadening the definition of
a member to include all emergency personnel eligible for the pension
system if the service complies with attendance requirements
SECTION 6. Amends Sections 11A, 12, 12A. 15, and 16 Texas Statewide
Volunteer Fire Fighters Retirement Act (Article 6243e.3, Vernon's Texas
Civil Statutes).
Section 11A PRIOR SERVICE OF MEMBERS WITHOUT A PENSION PLAN BEFORE
PARTICIPATION: is amended to make clear that a governing body wishing to
participate in the fund may credit themselves for prior service by
emergency services personnel if that department did not already have a
pension plan.
Section 12 WITHDRAWING FROM THE PENSION SYSTEM: is amended to replace
the term "fire fighters" with either the term of "member" or "emergency
services personnel."
Section 12A BENEFITS FOR MEMBER OF DEPARTMENT THAT CEASES TO EXIST: is
amended to make clear the term "department" does not necessarily specify
the fire or member department.
Section 15 PENSION PLANS REQUIRED TO BE SOLVENT: is amended by
clarifying members as those who perform emergency service duties and are
classified as emergency services personnel.
Section 16 DISCLOSURE OF PENSION PLAN INFORMATION REQUIRED: is amended
by clarifying the definition of a person who is eligible for participation
in the pension system and by describing the information disclosed to each
member by the governing body on the pension plan.
SECTION 7. Amends Section 19(a), Texas Statewide Volunteer Fire Fighters
Retirement Act (Article 6243e.3, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) by
broadening the description of the pension plan to include more than fire
fighters.
SECTION 8. Amends Section 21(b), Texas Statewide Volunteer Fire Fighters
Retirement Act (Article 6243e.3, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) by adding
to the adoption of rules to include a proration of the requirements to a
member performing service for only a part of the calendar year and may
provide for the computation of member attendance or drill hours.
SECTION 9. Amends Sections 22(a) and (d) Texas Statewide Volunteer Fire
Fighters Retirement Act (Article 6243e.3, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
(a) is amended by the description of the members who comprise the local
board of trustees to include five members representing a participating
department chosen by majority vote by eligible emergency services
personnel of the department and two residents of a participating political
subdivision and one representative selected by the governing body.
(d) is amended to make clear the terms of the first local board to include
staggered terms for representatives of the participating department who
shall draw by lot to determine the length of their terms. Three
representatives serve two-year terms, two representatives serve one-year
terms, one appointee shall serve a two-year and the other appointee shall
serve a one-year term. After this first designation all appointments are
for two years.
SECTION 10. Amends Sections 23(a) and (e), Texas Statewide Volunteer Fire
Fighters Retirement Act (Article 6243e.3, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
(a) is amended to specify the duties of the local board of trustees to
include the monitoring of the timely submission of required contributions
to the commission.
(e) is amended by the definition of a member as not only a fire fighter,
and a participating department as including more than the fire department.
SECTION 11. Amends Section 25, Texas Statewide Volunteer Fire Fighters
Retirement Act (Article 6243e.3, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) ACT NOT
TO REPEAL STATUTORY AUTHORITY: to clarify that this Act is intended for
volunteer or partly paid emergency services personnel employees.
SECTION 12. (a) Effective date is September 1, 1997, except the
definition of "qualified service" in Section 1, Texas Statewide Emergency
Services Retirement Act (Article 6243e.3, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes),
effective date is January 1, 1998.
(b) States that those governing bodies that elect to provide coverage for
volunteer firefighters under the Texas Statewide Volunteer Fire Fighters
Retirement Act may elect to decline providing coverage for the additional
volunteer or auxiliary emergency service personnel. This exemption must
be exercised within 60 days after the effective date of this act.
SECTION 13. Emergency Clause.
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE
CSHB 337 adds to the definition of "qualified service" to state that the
member is in a participating department that has no fewer than 10 active
members.
The definition of "auxiliary employee" is added and states that the
person's compensation may not be more than $2.00 above the federal minimum
wage or those who receive service credit for the same service in the
Municipal Retirement System or the Texas County and District Retirement
System. Adds the definitions of "emergency services" and "emergency
services personnel."
The make-up of the local board of trustees is changed by the addition of
two residents of a participating political subdivision.
Language is added in the Effective Date clause to allow cities that are
currently providing retirement benefits for their volunteer fire fighters
to opt not to participate in the newly expanded coverage for volunteer or
auxiliary emergency services personnel. This exemption is required to be
taken within 60 days after the effective date.