1-1     By:  Jackson                                          S.B. No. 1749
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 12, 1999; March 15, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
 1-4     April 7, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 9,
 1-5     Nays 0; April 7, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to participation in the Texas Employees Uniform Group
 1-9     Insurance Benefits Act by certain former members of the governing
1-10     bodies of community/junior colleges.
1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12           SECTION 1.  Subdivision (5), Subsection (a), Section 3, Texas
1-13     Employees Uniform Group Insurance Benefits Act (Article 3.50-2,
1-14     Vernon's Texas Insurance Code), is amended to read as follows:
1-15                 (5)(A)  "Employee" shall mean any appointive or
1-16     elective officer or employee in the service of the State of Texas,
1-17     including an employee of an institution of higher education:
1-18                             (i)  who is retired or retires and is an
1-19     annuitant under the jurisdiction of the Employees Retirement System
1-20     of Texas, pursuant to Subtitle B, D, or E;
1-21                             (ii)  who is retired or retires and is an
1-22     annuitant under the jurisdiction of the Teacher Retirement System
1-23     of Texas, pursuant to Subtitle C, Title 8, Government Code, or
1-24     pursuant to Chapter 803, Government Code, and whose last employment
1-25     with the state prior to retirement, including employment by a
1-26     public community/junior college, was as an employee of a department
1-27     whose employees are authorized to participate in the Texas
1-28     employees uniform group insurance program;
1-29                             (iii)  who is retired or retires and is an
1-30     annuitant under the optional retirement program established by
1-31     Chapter 830, Government Code, if the person's last state employment
1-32     before retirement, including employment by a public
1-33     community/junior college, was as an employee of a department whose
1-34     employees are authorized to participate in the Texas employees
1-35     uniform group insurance program, and if the person either:
1-36                                            (a)  would have been
1-37     eligible to retire and receive a service retirement annuity from
1-38     the Teacher Retirement System of Texas or the Employees Retirement
1-39     System of Texas had the person not elected to participate in the
1-40     optional retirement program; or
1-41                                            (b)  is disabled as
1-42     determined by the Employees Retirement System of Texas;
1-43                             (iv)  who receives compensation for
1-44     services rendered to the State of Texas, other than an employee of
1-45     an institution of higher education described by this subdivision,
1-46     on a warrant issued pursuant to a payroll certified by a department
1-47     or by an elected or duly appointed officer of this state;
1-48                             (v)  who receives payment for the
1-49     performance of personal services on a warrant issued pursuant to a
1-50     payroll certified by a department and drawn by the comptroller upon
1-51     the State Treasury against appropriations made by the Texas
1-52     Legislature from any state funds or against any trust funds held by
1-53     the comptroller or who is paid from funds of an official budget of
1-54     a state department, rather than from funds of the General
1-55     Appropriations Act;
1-56                             (vi)  who is appointed, subject to
1-57     confirmation of the senate, as a member of a board or commission
1-58     with administrative responsibility over a statutory agency having
1-59     statewide jurisdiction whose employees are covered by this Act;
1-60                             (vii)  who is a member of the governing
1-61     body of an institution of higher education, as that term is defined
1-62     by this Act, or who was a member of the governing body of a public
1-63     community/junior college who rendered at least 10 continuous years
1-64     of service and who is at least 55 years of age;
 2-1                             (viii)  who is a member of the State Board
 2-2     of Education;
 2-3                             (ix)  who receives compensation for
 2-4     services rendered to an institution of higher education on a
 2-5     warrant or check issued pursuant to a payroll certified by an
 2-6     institution of higher education or by an elected or duly appointed
 2-7     officer of this state, and who is eligible for participation in the
 2-8     Teacher Retirement System of Texas; or
 2-9                             (x)  who receives compensation for services
2-10     rendered to an institution of higher education as provided by this
2-11     subdivision but is not permitted to be a member of the Teacher
2-12     Retirement System of Texas because the person is solely employed by
2-13     an institution of higher education that as a condition of
2-14     employment requires the person to be enrolled as a student in an
2-15     institution of higher education in graduate-level courses and who
2-16     is employed by the institution at least 20 hours a week.
2-17                       (B)  Persons performing personal services for the
2-18     State of Texas as independent contractors shall never be considered
2-19     employees of the state for purposes of this Act.
2-20           SECTION 2.  Subsection (b), Section 15, Texas Employees
2-21     Uniform Group Insurance Benefits Act (Article 3.50-2, Vernon's
2-22     Texas Insurance Code), is amended to read as follows:
2-23           (b)  The state shall contribute to the cost of each
2-24     employee's individual and dependent group coverages the amounts
2-25     appropriated for the coverages in the General Appropriations Act.
2-26     The governing board of each state department and institution of
2-27     higher education participating in the program established under
2-28     this Act shall pay the trustee a like amount for each employee's
2-29     individual or dependent group coverages for their employees who
2-30     are, and retirees who were, compensated from funds not appropriated
2-31     in the General Appropriations Act.  The departments and
2-32     institutions shall include the required contributions from funds
2-33     not appropriated in the General Appropriations Act in their annual
2-34     operating budgets.  Each state department and institution of higher
2-35     education participating in the program shall assure current
2-36     participant coverages based on the records of the trustee, make
2-37     timely payments of amounts due the trustee from all fund sources
2-38     under the control of the department or institution, and reconcile
2-39     trustee and agency records of coverages and payments monthly.
2-40     There is hereby allocated to the trustee, in accordance with the
2-41     provisions of this Act, from the several funds from which employees
2-42     receive their respective salaries, a sum equal to the total of all
2-43     employer contributions computed in accordance with the provisions
2-44     of this Act and the rules and regulations of the trustee
2-45     promulgated pursuant thereto.  In the event that a public
2-46     community/junior college elects to continue the health benefits of
2-47     a former member of the governing body of the institution who
2-48     rendered at least 10 continuous years of service and is at least 55
2-49     years of age, the required contributions shall be paid from funds
2-50     under the control of the institution or from the personal funds of
2-51     the former member, but in no event shall the required contributions
2-52     be paid by the state.
2-53           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-54           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-55     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-56     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-57     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-58     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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