Bill Text: TX HB168 | 2021 | 87th Legislature 2nd Special Session | Introduced

Texas House Bill 168 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Relating to cost-of-living increases applicable to benefits paid by the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-08-23 - Referred to Appropriations [HB168 Detail]

Download: Texas-2021-HB168-Introduced.html

	87S20211 JCG-D

	By: Martinez	H.B. No. 168



	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, 2023.
	SECTION 3. This Act takes effect January 1, 2022.