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By:  Madla                                                        S.B. No. 1658
	(In the Senate - Filed March 14, 2003; March 20, 2003, read 
first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental 
Relations; May 6, 2003, reported adversely, with favorable 
Committee Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 5, Nays 0; 
May 6, 2003, sent to printer.)


COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1658                                   By:  Madla


A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

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.  Subsection (e), Section 7, 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.



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