By:  Armbrister                                        S.B. No. 325

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to investments by the boards of trustees of local

 1-2     retirement systems for firefighters.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 27, Texas Local Fire

 1-5     Fighters Retirement Act (Article 6243e, Vernon's Texas Civil

 1-6     Statutes), is amended to read as follows:

 1-7           (a)  A board of trustees established under this Act shall

 1-8     keep a sufficient amount of cash on hand to make payments as they

 1-9     become due under the retirement system.  If a board determines that

1-10     the fund of its retirement system contains an amount in excess of

1-11     the amount needed to make payments as they become due, the board

1-12     may invest any portion of the excess.  The state auditor shall

1-13     conduct a study to determine if the retirement systems covered

1-14     under this Act should be covered under Chapter 2256, Government

1-15     Code, or similar statute [in:]

1-16                 [(1)  bonds or other interest-bearing obligations and

1-17     securities of the United States, the state, or a political

1-18     subdivision of the state;]

1-19                 [(2)  shares and share accounts of savings and loan

1-20     associations to the extent that the shares and share accounts are

1-21     insured by the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation;]

1-22                 [(3)  first-lien real estate mortgage securities

1-23     insured by the Federal Housing Administration;]

 2-1                 [(4)  bonds of companies incorporated within the United

 2-2     States;]

 2-3                 [(5)  common and preferred stocks of companies

 2-4     incorporated within the United States that, unless the stocks are

 2-5     bank or insurance stocks, are listed on an exchange registered with

 2-6     the Securities and Exchange Commission or its successor;]

 2-7                 [(6)  guaranteed investment contracts offered by

 2-8     insurance companies;]

 2-9                 [(7)  money market funds;]

2-10                 [(8)  mutual funds and other pooled funds;]

2-11                 [(9)  international stocks traded as American

2-12     depository receipts; and]

2-13                 [(10)  over-the-counter stocks].

2-14           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-15     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-16     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-17     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-18     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-19     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-20     passage, and it is so enacted.

2-21                          COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1

2-22           Amend S.B. 325 as follows:

2-23     On page 1, lines 12 through 15, between "excess" and "[in.]", strike

2-24     ".  The state auditor shall conduct a study to determine if the

2-25     retirement systems covered under this Act should be covered under

 3-1     Chapter 2256, Government Code, or similar statute".

 3-2                                                                 Telford