Bill Text: TX HB177 | 2021 | 87th Legislature 2nd Special Session | Introduced

Texas House Bill 177 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Relating to certain benefits paid by the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-08-23 - Referred to Appropriations [HB177 Detail]

Download: Texas-2021-HB177-Introduced.html

	87S20458 BDP-F

	By: Dominguez	H.B. No. 177



	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to certain benefits paid by the Teacher Retirement System
	of Texas.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1. (a) 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.
	(b) This section applies only to a benefit paid by the
	Teacher Retirement System of Texas on or after January 1, 2023.
	SECTION 2. (a) Subject to Section 821.006, Government
	Code, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas shall make a one-time
	supplemental payment of a retirement or death benefit, as provided
	by this section.
	(b) The supplemental payment is payable not later than
	January 2022 and, to the extent practicable, on a date or dates that
	coincide with the regular annuity payment payable to each eligible
	annuitant.
	(c) The amount of the supplemental payment is equal to the
	lesser of:
	(1) the gross amount of the regular annuity payment to
	which the eligible annuitant is otherwise entitled for the calendar
	month immediately prior to the calendar month in which the Teacher
	Retirement System of Texas issues the one-time supplemental payment
	in accordance with Subsection (b) of this section; or
	(2) $2,400.
	(d) The supplemental payment is payable without regard to
	any forfeiture of benefits under Section 824.601, Government Code.
	The Teacher Retirement System of Texas shall make applicable tax
	withholding and other legally required deductions before
	disbursing the supplemental payment. A supplemental payment under
	this section is in addition to and not in lieu of the regular
	monthly annuity payment to which the eligible annuitant is
	otherwise entitled.
	(e) Subject to Subsection (f) of this section, to be
	eligible for the supplemental payment, a person must be, for the
	calendar month immediately prior to the calendar month in which the
	Teacher Retirement System of Texas issues the one-time supplemental
	payment in accordance with Subsection (b) of this section, and
	disregarding any forfeiture of benefits under Section 824.601,
	Government Code, an annuitant eligible to receive:
	(1) a standard retirement annuity payment;
	(2) an optional retirement annuity payment as either a
	retiree or beneficiary;
	(3) a life annuity payment under Section
	824.402(a)(4), Government Code;
	(4) an annuity for a guaranteed period of 60 months
	under Section 824.402(a)(3), Government Code; or
	(5) an alternate payee annuity payment under Section
	804.005, Government Code.
	(f) If the annuitant is a retiree or a beneficiary under an
	optional retirement payment plan, to be eligible for the
	supplemental payment, the effective date of the retirement of the
	member of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas must have been on
	or before July 31, 2021. If the annuitant is a beneficiary under
	Section 824.402(a)(3) or (4), Government Code, to be eligible for
	the supplemental payment, the date of death of the member of the
	retirement system must have been on or before July 31, 2021. The
	supplemental payment shall be made to an alternate payee who is an
	annuitant under Section 804.005, Government Code, only if the
	annuity payment to the alternate payee commenced on or before July
	31, 2021. The supplemental payment is in addition to the guaranteed
	number of payments under Section 824.204(c)(3) or (4), Section
	824.308(c)(3) or (4), or Section 824.402(a)(3), Government Code,
	and may not be counted as one of the guaranteed monthly payments.
	(g) The supplemental payment does not apply to payments
	under:
	(1) Section 824.304(a), Government Code, relating to
	disability retirees with less than 10 years of service credit;
	(2) Section 824.804(b), Government Code, relating to
	participants in the deferred retirement option plan with regard to
	payments from their deferred retirement option plan accounts;
	(3) Section 824.501(a), Government Code, relating to
	retiree survivor beneficiaries who receive a survivor annuity in an
	amount fixed by statute; or
	(4) Section 824.404(a), Government Code, relating to
	active member survivor beneficiaries who receive a survivor annuity
	in an amount fixed by statute.
	(h) Except as provided by this section, the board of
	trustees of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas shall determine
	the eligibility for and the amount and timing of a supplemental
	payment and the manner in which the payment is made.
	SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
	Act takes effect on the 91st day after the last day of the
	legislative session.