Honorable Jeff Leach, Chair, House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1876 by Schofield (Relating to the annual base salaries of state judges and justices.), As Introduced
The bill would amend the Government Code to change the determination of all judicial salaries from a formula based on the base salary of a judge of a district court to a formula based on the base salary of a justice of the supreme court other than the chief justice. The state annual base salary would be increased each biennium by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers for the two preceding fiscal years. The Legislative Budget Board would be required to calculate the initial salary under the bill no later than December 31, 2022 and include the calculated salaries in the general appropriations bill for the state fiscal biennium beginning September 1, 2023.
According to the Employees Retirement System (ERS), under the provisions of the bill the general relationship between judicial salaries would remain approximately the same, and an assumption that the judicial pay and associated Elected Class annuities would increase with inflation is already incorporated into the determination of plan liabilities. Since the bill would not change the relationship of judicial salaries and codifies current assumptions, there would be no impact on the ERS Retirement Program or Judicial Retirement System - Plan 2. Additionally, according to ERS, it is unclear whether the structural change in setting the judicial salaries would be considered a benefit enhancement for the associated Elected Class annuities in accordance with Section 811.006 of the Government Code, which requires the ERS to be actuarially sound.
SOURCES Email correspondence from ERS (Ariana Whaley) and by R.Ryan Falls, FSA, EA, MAAA, Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Company, March 13, 2021 and March 14, 2021.