82R1479 SGA-D
 
  By: Martinez H.B. No. 60
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to a cost of living increase applicable to benefits paid by
  the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 824, Government Code, is
  amended by adding Section 824.008 to read as follows:
         Sec. 824.008.  ADJUSTMENT FOR COST OF LIVING. (a) The
  amount of a service retirement benefit, disability retirement
  benefit, or death benefit paid under this chapter is adjusted in
  accordance with this section as necessary to reflect inflation.
         (b)  Each year, during the last seven days of October, the
  board of trustees shall set the rate of the adjustment for the next
  calendar year to equal the percentage increase, if any, in the
  Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers
  (CPI-W) most recently published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics
  of the United States Department of Labor and used by the United
  States Social Security Administration to provide a cost-of-living
  adjustment for social security benefit payments payable beginning
  in January of the next year.
         (c)  The board of trustees shall recompute the amount of a
  benefit paid under this chapter by applying the adjustment computed
  under Subsection (b) to the amount otherwise required to be paid as
  determined in accordance with the other applicable provisions of
  this chapter.
         (d)  The board of trustees may not pay a benefit increase
  under this section in any calendar year unless the board finds that
  the retirement system is actuarially sound and has money available
  to pay increased benefits in that year. If the board of trustees
  finds that the retirement system is actuarially sound, but that the
  amount of money available is not sufficient to pay the full amount
  of the adjustment under Subsection (b), the board shall compute the
  largest rate of adjustment possible for the amount of money
  available while maintaining the actuarial soundness of the system
  and shall use that rate in recomputing the benefit amount under
  Subsection (c) for that calendar year.
         SECTION 2.  This Act applies only to a benefit paid by the
  Teacher Retirement System of Texas on or after January 1, 2012.
         SECTION 3.  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, 2011.