S.B. No. 1105
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to the resumption of employment by certain retirees within
  the Texas Municipal Retirement System.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 852.108, Government Code, is amended by
  amending Subsections (a), (c), (e), (f), (h), (i), and (j) and
  adding Subsections (b-1), (k), (l), (m), and (n) to read as follows:
         (a)  In this section and Sections 852.1085 and 852.109, a
  person's reemploying municipality is the municipality for which the
  person most recently performed [was performing] creditable service
  before [at the time of] the person's retirement with respect to the
  person's particular individual account under this subtitle.
         (b-1)  Unless subject to Subsection (c), the retirement
  annuity of a person subject to this section is not suspended.
         (c)  If a person becomes an employee of the person's
  reemploying municipality at any time during the 12 consecutive
  months after the effective date of the person's last retirement
  from the reemploying municipality, the [The] retirement system
  shall discontinue and suspend the full amount of the monthly
  payments of the [each] service retirement annuity that is allowed
  because of the person's previous retirement from [service with] the
  reemploying municipality beginning with the month the retirement
  system determines that the person has again become an employee of
  the reemploying municipality. After the suspension and except as
  provided by Subsection (j), the retirement system may not make
  payments of the annuity for any month during which the person
  remains an employee of the reemploying municipality. The
  suspension of a benefit under this section does not suspend payment
  of a benefit to an alternate payee under a qualified domestic
  relations order.
         (e)  After termination of employment with the reemploying
  municipality and after filing of an application for resumption of
  retirement with the board of trustees, a person described by
  Subsection (c) [(b)] is entitled to receive future payments of the
  suspended annuity, as provided by Subsection (f), and to the
  additional benefits as provided by Subsections (g), (h), (i), and
  (j).
         (f)  Monthly payments of an [a suspended] annuity suspended
  under Subsection (c) shall resume effective beginning with [be
  resumed in] the month following the month in which employment is
  terminated with the reemploying municipality, without change in the
  amount except for any increase allowed under Section 854.203 or the
  duration of or another condition pertaining to the suspended
  benefit. Except as provided by Subsection (j), payment of the
  resumed benefit may not be made for any month during which the
  payment was suspended under this section.
         (h)  The additional service retirement benefit allowable to
  a person to whom this section applies is, at the option of that
  person, either:
               (1)  a refund of accumulated contributions made since
  reemployment plus any accrued interest on the accumulated
  contributions allowed by the retirement system; or
               (2)  a benefit consisting of:
                     (A)  a basic annuity actuarially determined from
  the sum of the member's contributions [deposits] made and
  accumulated since the date the person last became a member,
  together with interest accumulated on that amount since the person
  last became a member and an amount from the benefit accumulation
  fund equal to the amount of the member's contributions credited to
  the member's individual account since the person last became a
  member together with interest accrued on that amount since the
  person last became a member; or
                     (B)  a greater amount authorized by the
  municipality under Section 855.501.
         (i)  The additional benefit described by Subsection (h)(2)
  [(h)] is payable as a standard service retirement benefit or, at the
  election of the member, any optional benefit authorized under this
  subtitle that is the actuarial equivalent of the standard
  retirement benefit. The first benefit payment date under this
  subsection is the later of the end of the month following the last
  month of employment or the end of the month following the month in
  which the person files an application for payment. The first
  payment may not be made if the person has resumed employment with
  the reemploying municipality in a position that would make the
  person an employee.
         (j)  Subject to Subsection (m), a [A] person who resumed
  employment with the person's reemploying municipality before
  September 1, 2021, [to whom this section applies] shall receive a
  lump-sum payment in an amount equal to the sum of the service
  retirement annuity payments the person would have received had the
  person's annuity payments not been discontinued and suspended under
  this section as it existed on the date the person resumed employment
  with the reemploying municipality, if the person:
               (1)  initially retired based on a bona fide termination
  of employment; and
               (2)  resumed employment with the person's reemploying
  municipality at least eight years after the effective date of the
  person's retirement.
         (k)  If the annuity payments of a person who resumed
  employment with the person's reemploying municipality before
  September 1, 2021, were discontinued and suspended under this
  section as it existed on the date the person resumed employment with
  the reemploying municipality and the person has not terminated
  employment with the reemploying municipality, then on filing of a
  written application with the retirement system, the retirement
  system shall, subject to Subsection (l), resume making the annuity
  payments to the person, provided:
               (1)  the person's retirement that preceded the
  resumption of employment was based on a bona fide termination of
  employment; and
               (2)  the person did not become an employee of the
  person's reemploying municipality at any time during the 12
  consecutive months after the effective date of the person's
  retirement described by Subdivision (1).
         (l)  Monthly payments of an annuity resumed under Subsection
  (k) shall resume effective beginning with the month following the
  month in which the written application is approved by the
  retirement system, without change in the amount except for any
  increase allowed under Section 854.203 or the duration of or
  another condition pertaining to the suspended benefit. Except as
  provided by Subsection (j), payment of the resumed benefit may not
  be made for any month during which the payment was suspended under
  this section as it existed on the date the person resumed employment
  with the reemploying municipality.
         (m)  At the time a person resumes receiving payment of an
  annuity under Subsection (k), the retirement system shall pay the
  person any lump-sum payment owed to the person under Subsection
  (j).
         (n)  The board of trustees may adopt rules to implement this
  section.
         SECTION 2.  Sections 852.109(a), (e), and (f), Government
  Code, are amended to read as follows:
         (a)  If a person becomes an employee of a municipality after
  the effective date of the person's [beginning to receive a]
  retirement from a participating municipality [benefit], and the
  municipality is not the person's reemploying municipality, the
  person again becomes a member of the retirement system, and the
  person's retirement annuity is not suspended.
         (e)  The additional benefit described by Subsection (d)(2)
  [(d)] is payable as a standard service retirement benefit or, at the
  election of the member, any optional benefit authorized under this
  subtitle that is the actuarial equivalent of the standard
  retirement benefit. The first benefit payment date under this
  subsection is the later of the end of the month following the last
  month of employment or the end of the month following the month in
  which the person files an application for payment. The first
  payment may not be made if the person has resumed employment that
  would result in suspension of a benefit.
         (f)  If a person became an employee of a municipality other
  than the person's reemploying municipality after the effective date
  of the person's [beginning to receive a] retirement from a
  participating municipality [benefit], and the person's service
  retirement annuity was suspended under Section 852.108 as it
  existed at the time of reemployment, the person may, on written
  application to the retirement system, resume receiving the
  suspended annuity.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
 
 
 
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
         I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1105 passed the Senate on    
  April 27, 2021, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays 0.
 
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate    
 
         I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1105 passed the House on       
  May 14, 2021, by the following vote:  Yeas 135, Nays 10, two
  present not voting.
 
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
 
 
  Approved:
 
  ______________________________ 
              Date
 
 
  ______________________________ 
            Governor