HBA-TBM H.B. 498 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 498 By: Chisum Pensions & Investments 2/20/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, officers with prior law enforcement experience who are entering a state law enforcement agency do not receive consideration for their previous service and may lose their retirement tenure. This may create an obstacle to the recruitment of experienced officers for state service. House Bill 498 authorizes peace officers with previous experience to establish service credit with the Employees Retirement System of Texas. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 498 amends the Government Code to authorize an eligible member in the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS) to establish credit in ERS for previous service as a peace officer. The peace officer is to be licensed by the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education or not required to be licensed by that commission and commissioned by a municipal police department or county sheriff's office in Texas. The bill provides that an eligible member is one who is a contributing member as a law enforcement or custodial officer and who applies for credit before the second anniversary of the date the member becomes a law enforcement or custodial officer. The bill authorizes a member to establish credit by depositing with ERS a contribution and the interest the member would have earned with the retirement system for each month of service claimed, and sets the computation rates for the contribution and interest. The bill authorizes a member to establish an amount of service credit of no less than 24 months and no more than 60 months. The service credit is used in calculating the amount of an annuity, but the bill prohibits the service credit calculation to be used to meet the minimum service requirement for an annuity. The bill authorizes a member to establish credit by a lump-sum payment or by installment payments. The bill prohibits a member from establishing credits for service that is currently credited in another public retirement system. The bill does not require the state to make contributions for service established under this section. The bill authorizes the retirement system to require applicants for credit to supply any information the system deems necessary. The bill authorizes a person who on the effective date of this Act has been a member of ERS as a law enforcement or custodial officer for two years or more to apply for service credit. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.