H.B. No. 2561
AN ACT
relating to the application of changes in benefits received by
members and retirees of retirement systems for paid, partly paid,
and volunteer fire fighters and their beneficiaries.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 2, Texas Local Fire Fighters Retirement
Act (Article 6243e, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by
adding Subdivisions (10) and (11) to read as follows:
(10) "Determination date" means:
(A) the day before the effective date of an
addition or change adopted by the board of trustees of a retirement
system under Section 7 of this Act; or
(B) the date of divorce for a member or retiree
whose benefits under this Act are subject to a qualified domestic
relations order.
(11) "Vested accrued benefit" means the amount of the
monthly benefit that a person is entitled to receive based on the
person's service credit and compensation history as of the
determination date under the benefit formula and other terms
established by a retirement system, including a vested percentage
where applicable, as those terms exist on the determination date.
The vested accrued benefit of a member is calculated without regard
to any optional form of payment the member may select at retirement.
The term does not include cost-of-living increases that may be
applied to a benefit after the determination date.
SECTION 2. Section 7(e), Texas Local Fire Fighters
Retirement Act (Article 6243e, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
amended to read as follows:
(e) An addition or change adopted under this section may
not, without the [member's] written consent of the member, retiree,
or eligible survivor under Section 15 of this Act, deprive a member
of the retirement system, a retiree, or an eligible survivor of a
right to receive a vested accrued benefit.
SECTION 3. Section 14, Texas Local Fire Fighters Retirement
Act (Article 6243e, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by
adding Subsections (g) and (h) to read as follows:
(g) The vested accrued benefit of a retiree under this
section who is retired as of the determination date is subject to
the terms established by the retirement system as those terms exist
on the determination date and is payable to the retiree only if the
retiree meets the eligibility requirements established by the board
of trustees under this section.
(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, a
disability retirement benefit is not a vested accrued benefit until
a member becomes disabled under the terms of the retirement system.
SECTION 4. Section 15, Texas Local Fire Fighters Retirement
Act (Article 6243e, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by
adding Subsections (f) and (g) to read as follows:
(f) The vested accrued benefit that an eligible survivor
receives under this section as the result of the death of a member
or retiree on or before the determination date is subject to the
terms established by the retirement system as those terms exist on
the determination date.
(g) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, a death
benefit is not a vested accrued benefit until the member or retiree
for whom death benefits are payable dies.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2561 was passed by the House on May 5,
2003, by the following vote: Yeas 141, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2561 was passed by the Senate on May
27, 2003, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor