Established in 1947, the Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS) is the statewide system, which administers retirement, disability, and death benefits for employees of those Texas cities which voluntarily elect to participate in the system.  Each of the 837 participating cities chooses a plan of benefits from the various options available under TMRS.  The plan of benefits selected is then funded separately for each city through a combination of employee contributions as a set percentage of compensation and employer contributions determined annually utilizing generally accepted actuarial principles and practices within the parameters established by the TMRS Act. These funding requirements are the responsibility of the individual member cities of TMRS.

HB 925 would amend Government Code to allow volunteer reserve police officers to receive up to 60 months credit for the time served in that capacity in the TMRS. 

The provisions of the bill include the following:

*         Would allow any city participating in TMRS to adopt an ordinance that would allow volunteer reserve police officers to receive up to 60 months credit for the time served in that capacity. To receive the credit, a person must be a full-time police officer of a city participating in TMRS. In no case could a person receive more than 60 months combined military and reserve service credit.

*         States that certification by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Education that reflects a member’s service as a reserve police officer for a participating municipality would be considered satisfactory evidence of a member’s reserve service.

The changes under HB 925 would not have an actuarial impact on TMRS as a system. In addition, the changes proposed by the bill would not have any material effect on the actuarial status of TMRS; nor would there be any long-term actuarial impact expected on any TMRS municipality or on TMRS in total.

According to TMRS, the provisions and recommendations in the bill could have a slight cost impact on the individual TMRS cities that later adopt an ordinance that would allow an employee that is a full time police officer to receive credit for the time served as a volunteer reserve police officer for a participating municipality.

SOURCES:

Actuarial Analysis by Mark R. Randall, Actuary, Gabriel Roeder Smith & Company, March 11, 2011