78R3345 SMJ-D
By: Puente H.B. No. 1153
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the retirement system for fire fighters and police
officers in certain municipalities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 1.02(7), Chapter 824, Acts of the 73rd
Legislature, Regular Session, 1993 (Article 6243o, Vernon's Texas
Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
(7) "Dependent child" means:
(A) a person who is less than 18 years of age and
is a child of a deceased member or deceased retiree; [under age 18,]
or
(B) a [totally disabled] person:
(i) who is at least 18 years of age;
(ii) who is mentally or physically disabled
to the extent that the person is not capable of being
self-supporting; and
(iii)[,] whose natural or adoptive parent
is a deceased member or deceased retiree, provided that [if], for
the year immediately preceding the death of the member or retiree,
the deceased member or retiree claimed the person as a dependent on
the member's or retiree's federal income tax return.
SECTION 2. Sections 4.01(a) and (c), Chapter 824, Acts of
the 73rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1993 (Article 6243o,
Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), are amended to read as follows:
(a) A person is eligible to become a member of the fund as a
condition of continued employment [two months] after the person has
received state certification as a fire fighter or police officer,
completed all other requirements for membership in the fund, and:
(1) graduated from a fire fighter or police officer
training academy of a municipality to which this Act applies and
passed the municipality's fire fighter's or police officer's
probationary exam; or
(2) otherwise satisfied the requirements for
employment as a fire fighter or police officer in a municipality to
which this Act applies.
(c) Except as provided by Section 4.05 of this Act, a [A]
municipality to which this Act applies shall match an amount equal
to twice the amount of each payment a member makes to the fund under
this section.
SECTION 3. Section 4.05, Chapter 824, Acts of the 73rd
Legislature, Regular Session, 1993 (Article 6243o, Vernon's Texas
Civil Statutes), is amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding
Subsection (a-1) to read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (a-1) of this section,
a [A] municipality to which this Act applies shall pay into the fund
an amount equal to double the sum total of all member contributions
made in accordance with Section 4.04 of this Act.
(a-1) For a member who participates in the fund for the
first time after September 30, 2003, and before October 1, 2005, a
municipality is not required to pay an amount under Subsection (a)
of this section into the fund for the member before the 61st day
after the date the member becomes a participant in the fund.
SECTION 4. Section 4.07(b), Chapter 824, Acts of the 73rd
Legislature, Regular Session, 1993 (Article 6243o, Vernon's Texas
Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
(b) A member of the fund who terminates employment before
the member's right to benefits under the fund has vested but who has
contributed to the fund for at least five years is entitled to a
refund of the member's contributions that were picked up by the
municipality. That refund shall be paid without interest. A refund
under this section is not available to a member who terminates
employment to receive a disability pension or to a survivor
beneficiary under this Act. Except as provided by Section 4.08 of
this Act, a [A] person's acceptance of a refund under this
subsection precludes the person from any other right or benefit
under this Act.
SECTION 5. Article 4, Chapter 824, Acts of the 73rd
Legislature, Regular Session, 1993 (Article 6243o, Vernon's Texas
Civil Statutes), is amended by adding Section 4.08 to read as
follows:
Sec. 4.08. PURCHASE OF SERVICE CREDIT PREVIOUSLY
REFUNDED. (a) A member who received a refund under Section 4.07 of
this Act of contributions made for a prior period of employment may
reestablish service credit for that prior period of employment by
paying to the fund a lump sum equal to the amount of the refund the
member received under Section 4.07 of this Act, plus interest on the
amount at the actuarial assumed rate of return, as established by
the board, from the date the member received the refund to the date
the member makes the lump-sum payment.
(b) A member must make the lump-sum payment under this
section within a period of days after the date the member is
reemployed that is equal to three times the number of days of the
period beginning on the date the member terminated the member's
prior employment and ending on the date the member is reemployed,
provided that the period for making the lump-sum payment may not
exceed five years.
(c) The member must file with the secretary of the board a
written statement of intent to make the lump-sum payment under this
section not later than the 90th day after the date the member is
reemployed, except that a member who is reemployed before October
1, 2003, must file the statement on or before December 31, 2003.
SECTION 6. Section 5.03(b), Chapter 824, Acts of the 73rd
Legislature, Regular Session, 1993 (Article 6243o, Vernon's Texas
Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
(b) A member of the fund who has a disability resulting from
injury or disease incurred before the member became a fire fighter
or police officer [or while a member of any uniformed service] is
not entitled to a disability retirement annuity based on that
disability.
SECTION 7. Section 5.05(b), Chapter 824, Acts of the 73rd
Legislature, Regular Session, 1993 (Article 6243o, Vernon's Texas
Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
(b) For those retired because of disability before August
30, 1971, the board may change the disability retirement annuity
provided by this Act, in accordance with any change in the degree of
disability, except that the percentage used to compute the annuity
may not, except in the case of discontinuance, be reduced to less
than 2.25 [two] percent of the base pay of a private each month, for
each year that the retiree has served and contributed a portion of
salary as provided by this Act, based on the greater of:
(1) the rate of pay at the time of the original
granting of the disability retirement annuity; or
(2) a minimum base pay of $200 each month.
SECTION 8. Sections 6.02(a), (c), and (j), Chapter 824,
Acts of the 73rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1993 (Article 6243o,
Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), are amended to read as follows:
(a) Subject to Section 6.03 of this Act and the provisions
of this section, if a member or disability retiree dies leaving a
surviving spouse or at least one dependent child, the surviving
spouse and the children are entitled to receive from the fund an
aggregate death benefit annuity, computed and payable from the date
of the member's death. The surviving spouse may elect the annuity
in an amount that is equal to either:
(1) 50 percent of the member's average total salary;
or
(2) the same percentage of the member's average total
salary that the member would have been entitled to receive as a
retirement annuity if the member could have retired on the date of
death.
(c) Subject to Section 6.08 of this Act and the provisions
of this section, if a retiree other than a disability retiree dies
leaving a surviving spouse or at least one dependent child, the
surviving spouse and dependent children are entitled to receive
from the fund an aggregate death benefit annuity, computed and
payable from the date of the member's death, in an amount that is
equal to the lesser of:
(1) the retirement annuity to which a member with the
same average total salary as the deceased retiree and 27 years of
service credit would be entitled if the member retired on the date
of the deceased retiree's death; or
(2) the retirement annuity the retiree was receiving
at the time of the retiree's death.
(j) A dependent child as defined by Section 1.02(7)(B) of
this Act [of the member who is so mentally or physically disabled as
to be incapable of being self-supporting to any extent, if
otherwise qualified and regardless of age,] has the same rights as
[of] a dependent child as defined by Section 1.02(7)(A) of this Act
[under 18 years of age], except that any death benefit annuity paid
under this subsection to a dependent [any mentally or physically
disabled] child as defined by Section 1.02(7)(B) of this Act may, at
the discretion of the board, be reduced to the extent of any state
pension or aid, including Medicaid, or any state-funded assistance
received by the child, regardless of whether the funds were made
available to the state by the federal government. In no other
instance under this Act is a child entitled to any benefit after
becoming 18 years of age.
SECTION 9. Section 6.13, Chapter 824, Acts of the 73rd
Legislature, Regular Session, 1993 (Article 6243o, Vernon's Texas
Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 6.13. GUARDIANSHIP. Any benefit payable under this
article to a dependent child as defined by Section 1.02(7)(B) of
this Act may be paid only to a guardian who is appointed in
accordance with Chapter XIII, Texas Probate Code. Any benefit
payable under this article to a dependent child as defined by
Section 1.02(7)(A) of this Act may, at the board's discretion, be:
(1) paid to a guardian appointed in accordance with
Chapter XIII, Texas Probate Code; or
(2) accrued by the fund and paid directly to the
dependent child on the child's 18th birthday.
SECTION 10. Section 4.03(g), Chapter 824, Acts of the 73rd
Legislature, Regular Session, 1993 (Article 6243o, Vernon's Texas
Civil Statutes), is repealed.
SECTION 11. This Act takes effect October 1, 2003.