By Armbrister                                    S.B. No. 481

      75R4488 GCH-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to investment of the volunteer firefighters' relief and

 1-3     retirement fund.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 14(b), Texas Statewide Volunteer Fire

 1-6     Fighters Retirement Act (Article 6243e.3, Vernon's Texas Civil

 1-7     Statutes), is amended to read as follows:

 1-8           (b)  In making investments of the fund, the commissioner and

 1-9     the state board of trustees shall exercise the judgment and care,

1-10     under the circumstances prevailing at the time of the investment,

1-11     that persons of ordinary prudence, discretion, and intelligence

1-12     exercise in the management of their own affairs, not in speculation

1-13     but when making a permanent disposition of their funds, considering

1-14     the probable income from the disposition and the probable safety of

1-15     their capital [The surplus may be invested in:]

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

1-17     securities issued by governmental entities;]

1-18                 [(2)  shares or share accounts of savings and loan

1-19     associations insured by the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance

1-20     Corporation;]

1-21                 [(3)  shares and share accounts of banks insured by the

1-22     Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation;]

1-23                 [(4)  first lien real estate mortgage securities

1-24     insured by the Federal Housing Administration under the National

 2-1     Housing Act, as amended;]

 2-2                 [(5)  investments made by a life insurance company in

 2-3     order to effect a group annuity contract;]

 2-4                 [(6)  corporation bonds, preferred stocks, and common

 2-5     stocks;]

 2-6                 [(7)  mutual funds; and]

 2-7                 [(8)  international stocks traded as American

 2-8     depository receipts].

 2-9           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-10     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-11     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-12     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-13     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-14     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-15     passage, and it is so enacted.