Bill Text: TX HB2369 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Introduced

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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.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-03-11 - Referred to Pensions [HB2369 Detail]

Download: Texas-2013-HB2369-Introduced.html

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83R7934 KFF-D
By: Guillen H.B. No. 2369

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
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) [(B) that] is performed by a member in
good standing in the department who:
(a) [(i)] attends at least 20 hours of
annual training and at least 25 percent of the department's
emergencies in a calendar year;
(b) [(ii)] attends at least 20 hours
of annual training and provides support services for at least 25
percent of the department's emergencies in a calendar year; or
(c) [(iii)] does not attend training
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) [,] receives no monetary compensation from a
participating department or who regularly receives compensation
for those services of less than $200 a month; [,] and
(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 [A] local
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 [BOARD] OF TRUSTEES [FOR PAID OR PART-PAID
FIRE DEPARTMENT].
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 [and that has a fire department that does not
consist exclusively of volunteers], the fire fighters' retirement
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 [statewide program provided by the Texas Statewide Volunteer
Fire Fighters Retirement Act (Article 6243e.3, Vernon's Texas Civil
Statutes)], if the board obtains approval as provided by Section 7
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.