88R3336 BDP-D
 
  By: Martinez H.B. No. 1137
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to cost-of-living increases 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 H, Chapter 824, Government Code, is
  amended by adding Section 824.703 to read as follows:
         Sec. 824.703.  COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENTS FOR INFLATION;
  ANNUAL DETERMINATION. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, 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 annual percentage increase, if any, in
  the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical
  Workers (CPI-W) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the
  United States Department of Labor as determined by the commissioner
  of social security under 42 U.S.C. Section 415(i) for purposes of
  providing an annual cost-of-living increase to social security
  benefit payments payable in the next calendar year.
         (c)  Subject to Subsection (d), the board of trustees shall
  increase the amount of a benefit payable under this chapter by
  applying the adjustment rate set by the board of trustees 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 increasing benefits 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, 2024.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.