Bill Text: TX HB2369 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to participation by certain volunteer fire departments in the Texas Emergency Services Retirement System instead of a Texas local firefighters retirement system.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-03-11 - Referred to Pensions [HB2369 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-HB2369-Introduced.html
83R7934 KFF-D | ||
By: Guillen | H.B. No. 2369 |
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relating to participation by certain volunteer fire departments in | ||
the Texas Emergency Services Retirement System instead of a Texas | ||
local firefighters retirement system. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Sections 861.001(10) and (12), Government Code, | ||
are amended to read as follows: | ||
(10) "Qualified service" means service: | ||
(A) for a participating department, other than a | ||
department described by Paragraph (B), that: | ||
(i) is recognized as an emergency services | ||
department by its governing body and that conducts at least 48 hours | ||
of training in a calendar year; and | ||
(ii) [ |
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good standing in the department who: | ||
(a) [ |
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annual training and at least 25 percent of the department's | ||
emergencies in a calendar year; | ||
(b) [ |
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of annual training and provides support services for at least 25 | ||
percent of the department's emergencies in a calendar year; or | ||
(c) [ |
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or emergencies because the member is absent because of military | ||
duty; or | ||
(B) for a fire department that is performed by a | ||
member in good standing in the department who: | ||
(i) is a volunteer; | ||
(ii) answers at least 25 percent of all fire | ||
alarms in a calendar year, as determined by the local board; and | ||
(iii) attends at least 40 percent of all | ||
drills held by the department in a calendar year. | ||
(12) "Volunteer" means a person who: | ||
(A) performs emergency services for civic, | ||
charitable, or humanitarian reasons; | ||
(B) [ |
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participating department or who regularly receives compensation | ||
for those services of less than $200 a month; [ |
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(C) is not subject to the compensation | ||
requirements provided for employees by the Fair Labor Standards Act | ||
of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Section 201 et seq.). | ||
SECTION 2. Section 862.001, Government Code, is amended by | ||
adding Subsections (c) and (d) to read as follows: | ||
(c) The fire department of each municipality in the state | ||
shall participate in the pension system if the department: | ||
(1) consists exclusively of volunteers; and | ||
(2) was organized before September 1, 1989, and | ||
remains a regularly organized department. | ||
(d) If a municipality's fire department consists partly of | ||
employees participating in the Texas Municipal Retirement System | ||
and partly of volunteers not participating in that retirement | ||
system, the municipality's fire department shall participate in the | ||
pension system and this subtitle applies only with respect to the | ||
persons who are not participating in the Texas Municipal Retirement | ||
System. | ||
SECTION 3. Section 865.012, Government Code, is amended by | ||
amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsections (a-1) and | ||
(a-2) to read as follows: | ||
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (a-1), a [ |
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board is composed of: | ||
(1) one trustee selected by the governing body of the | ||
political subdivision of which a participating department is a | ||
part; | ||
(2) three trustees who are active members representing | ||
a participating department chosen by a majority of the emergency | ||
services personnel in the department who are eligible to | ||
participate in the pension system; and | ||
(3) two trustees who are representatives of the | ||
political subdivision who are chosen by the other members of the | ||
local board. | ||
(a-1) A local board of a participating department described | ||
by Section 862.001(c) or (d) is composed of: | ||
(1) the mayor of the municipality or the mayor's | ||
designated representative or the chief operating officer of the | ||
political subdivision or the chief operating officer's designated | ||
representative, as applicable; | ||
(2) the chief financial officer of the municipality or | ||
other political subdivision or, if there is no officer denominated | ||
as chief financial officer, the person who performs the duties of | ||
chief financial officer or a person designated by the chief | ||
financial officer or by the person performing the duties of chief | ||
financial officer; | ||
(3) three members of the pension system elected by | ||
active members as provided by Subsection (a-2); and | ||
(4) two persons who reside in the municipality or | ||
other political subdivision or within the extraterritorial | ||
jurisdiction of the municipality, who are not officers or employees | ||
of the municipality or other political subdivision, and who are | ||
elected by a majority vote of the members of the local board | ||
determined as provided by Subdivisions (1), (2), and (3). | ||
(a-2) During each period that begins on December 1 of one | ||
year and ends on January 31 of the following year, the active | ||
members in a municipality or other political subdivision subject to | ||
Subsection (a-1) shall elect by secret ballot and certify to the | ||
governing body of the municipality or other political subdivision a | ||
member to the local board to serve a term of three years. To be | ||
elected a member of a local board under this subsection, a person | ||
must be an active member of the pension system and receive a | ||
majority of the votes cast in the election, and at least 50 percent | ||
of all active members of the pension system must vote in the | ||
election. | ||
(b) Trustees of a local board subject to Subsection (a) | ||
serve staggered two-year terms. At the first meeting of a local | ||
board, the trustees shall draw lots to determine the length of the | ||
term to be served, with the terms of two trustees to be two years and | ||
the terms of two trustees to be one year. The first appointments of | ||
trustees appointed by other members of the local board are to be one | ||
trustee for a two-year term and one trustee for a one-year term. | ||
SECTION 4. The heading to Section 19, Texas Local Fire | ||
Fighters Retirement Act (Article 6243e, Vernon's Texas Civil | ||
Statutes), is amended to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 19. BOARDS [ |
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SECTION 5. Section 19(a), Texas Local Fire Fighters | ||
Retirement Act (Article 6243e, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is | ||
amended to read as follows: | ||
(a) In each municipality and other political subdivision to | ||
which this Act applies [ |
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system is governed by a board of trustees consisting of: | ||
(1) the mayor of the municipality or the mayor's | ||
designated representative or the chief operating officer of the | ||
political subdivision or the chief operating officer's designated | ||
representative, as applicable; | ||
(2) the chief financial officer of the municipality or | ||
other political subdivision or, if there is no officer denominated | ||
as chief financial officer, the person who performs the duties of | ||
chief financial officer or a person designated by the chief | ||
financial officer or by the person performing the duties of chief | ||
financial officer; | ||
(3) three members of the retirement system elected by | ||
participating members as provided by Subsection (b) of this | ||
section; and | ||
(4) two persons who reside in this state in the | ||
municipality or other political subdivision or within the | ||
extraterritorial jurisdiction of the municipality, who are not | ||
officers or employees of the municipality or other political | ||
subdivision, and who are elected by a majority vote of the members | ||
of the board of trustees determined as provided by Subdivisions | ||
(1), (2), and (3) of this subsection. | ||
SECTION 6. Section 31(b), Texas Local Fire Fighters | ||
Retirement Act (Article 6243e, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is | ||
amended to read as follows: | ||
(b) The board of trustees of a retirement system for a fire | ||
department consisting partly of employees and partly of volunteers | ||
may transfer assets actuarially attributable to the volunteers from | ||
the retirement system under this Act to the Texas Emergency | ||
Services Retirement System under Subtitle H, Title 8, Government | ||
Code [ |
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of this Act provided 51 percent of the volunteers first petition the | ||
board for such change. | ||
SECTION 7. Sections 3(b) and (d), 20, and 31(a) and (c), | ||
Texas Local Fire Fighters Retirement Act (Article 6243e, Vernon's | ||
Texas Civil Statutes), are repealed. | ||
SECTION 8. (a) As soon as practicable after the effective | ||
date of this Act, but not later than September 1, 2013, the office | ||
of the fire fighters' pension commissioner and the state board of | ||
the Texas Emergency Services Retirement System established under | ||
Section 865.001, Government Code, shall enter into a memorandum of | ||
understanding regarding the implementation of this Act. | ||
(b) Effective January 1, 2014: | ||
(1) a retirement system or trust fund established by a | ||
municipality or other political subdivision under Section 4, Texas | ||
Local Fire Fighters Retirement Act (Article 6243e, Vernon's Texas | ||
Civil Statutes), and in existence immediately before January 1, | ||
2014, that has a fire department consisting exclusively of | ||
volunteers is abolished; | ||
(2) the assets and obligations of a retirement system | ||
or trust fund abolished under Subdivision (1) of this subsection | ||
are transferred, as appropriate, to the Texas Emergency Services | ||
Retirement System and Texas emergency services retirement fund, as | ||
appropriate; | ||
(3) members, retirees, or other beneficiaries of a | ||
retirement system abolished under Subdivision (1) of this | ||
subsection shall transfer to and become members, retirees, or other | ||
beneficiaries, as appropriate, of the Texas Emergency Services | ||
Retirement System; and | ||
(4) the appropriate powers, duties, obligations, and | ||
rights of action of a board of trustees of a retirement system | ||
established under Section 20, Texas Local Fire Fighters Retirement | ||
Act (Article 6243e, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), as that section | ||
existed before the effective date of this Act, and abolished under | ||
Subdivision (1) of this subsection are transferred, as appropriate, | ||
to: | ||
(A) the office of the fire fighters' pension | ||
commissioner; or | ||
(B) the state board of the Texas Emergency | ||
Services Retirement System established under Section 865.001, | ||
Government Code. | ||
(c) In connection with the transfers required by Subsection | ||
(b) of this section, the appropriate records or other property | ||
relating to a retirement system or trust fund abolished under that | ||
subsection are transferred, as appropriate, to: | ||
(1) the office of the fire fighters' pension | ||
commissioner; or | ||
(2) the state board of the Texas Emergency Services | ||
Retirement System established under Section 865.001, Government | ||
Code. | ||
(d) A rule adopted by the office of the fire fighters' | ||
pension commissioner in connection with or relating to retirement | ||
systems or trust funds abolished under Subsection (b)(1) of this | ||
section is repealed. | ||
(e) The attorney general shall continue any proceeding | ||
involving a retirement system or trust fund abolished under | ||
Subsection (b)(1) of this section. | ||
(f) Effective January 1, 2014, the unobligated and | ||
unexpended balance of any appropriation to the fire fighters' | ||
pension commissioner in connection with or relating to a retirement | ||
system or trust fund abolished under Subsection (b)(1) of this | ||
section for the state fiscal biennium ending August 31, 2013, is | ||
transferred and reappropriated to the Texas Emergency Services | ||
Retirement System and Texas emergency services retirement fund, as | ||
appropriate. | ||
SECTION 9. A member serving on a board of trustees | ||
established under Section 20, Texas Local Fire Fighters Retirement | ||
Act (Article 6243e, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), as that section | ||
existed before the effective date of this Act, immediately before | ||
September 1, 2013, shall continue to serve and function as a member | ||
of the applicable local board established under Section 865.012, | ||
Government Code, as amended by this Act, for the remainder of the | ||
member's term. | ||
SECTION 10. 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 September 1, 2013. |