Bill Text: TX SB301 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Relating to the operations and functions of the Employees Retirement System of Texas and the sunset review date for, financial management of, and programs administered by the agency.

Sponsorship: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Passed) 2017-06-09 - Effective on 9/1/17 [SB301 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-SB301-Enrolled.html

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S.B. No. 301

AN ACT
relating to the operations and functions of the Employees
Retirement System of Texas and the sunset review date for,
financial management of, and programs administered by the agency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 815.005, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 815.005. SUNSET PROVISION. The board of trustees of
the Employees Retirement System of Texas is subject to review under
Chapter 325 (Texas Sunset Act), but is not abolished under that
chapter. The board shall be reviewed during the period in which
state agencies abolished in 2029 [2017], and every 12th year after
that year, are reviewed.
SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 815, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 815.009 to read as follows:
Sec. 815.009. BOARD MEMBER TRAINING. (a) A person who is
appointed to and qualifies for office as a member of the board of
trustees may not vote, deliberate, or be counted as a member in
attendance at a meeting of the board of trustees until the person
completes a training program that complies with this section.
(b) The training program must provide the person with
information regarding:
(1) the law governing the retirement system's
operations;
(2) the programs, functions, rules, and budget of the
retirement system;
(3) the scope of and limitations on the rulemaking
authority of the board of trustees;
(4) the results of the most recent formal audit of the
retirement system;
(5) the requirements of:
(A) laws relating to open meetings, public
information, administrative procedure, and disclosing conflicts of
interest; and
(B) other laws applicable to members of the board
of trustees in performing their duties; and
(6) any applicable ethics policies adopted by the
retirement system or the Texas Ethics Commission.
(c) A person appointed to the board of trustees is entitled
to reimbursement, as provided by the General Appropriations Act,
for the travel expenses incurred in attending the training program
regardless of whether the attendance at the program occurs before
or after the person qualifies for office.
(d) The executive director shall create a training manual
that includes the information required by Subsection (b). The
executive director shall distribute a copy of the training manual
annually to each member of the board of trustees. On receipt of the
training manual, each member of the board of trustees shall sign and
submit to the executive director a statement acknowledging receipt
of the training manual.
SECTION 3. Subchapter B, Chapter 815, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 815.1025 to read as follows:
Sec. 815.1025. USE OF ALTERNATIVE RULEMAKING AND DISPUTE
RESOLUTION. (a) The board of trustees shall develop a policy to
encourage the use of:
(1) negotiated rulemaking procedures under Chapter
2008 for the adoption of the retirement system's rules; and
(2) appropriate alternative dispute resolution
procedures under Chapter 2009 to assist in the resolution of
internal and external disputes under the retirement system's
jurisdiction.
(b) The retirement system's procedures relating to
alternative dispute resolution must conform, to the extent
possible, to any model guidelines issued by the State Office of
Administrative Hearings for the use of alternative dispute
resolution by state agencies.
(c) The retirement system shall:
(1) coordinate the implementation of the policy
adopted under Subsection (a);
(2) provide training as needed to implement the
procedures for negotiated rulemaking or alternative dispute
resolution; and
(3) collect data concerning the effectiveness of those
procedures.
(d) The board of trustees shall ensure that the
implementation of this section and the negotiated rulemaking
procedures and alternative dispute resolution procedures adopted
under this section are consistent with the fiduciary responsibility
imposed on the board by law.
SECTION 4. Section 815.105, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 815.105. ADOPTING TABLES. At least once every four
years, the [The] board of trustees shall adopt mortality, service,
and other tables the board considers necessary for the retirement
system after considering the results of the actuary's investigation
of the mortality, service, and compensation experience of the
system's members and beneficiaries under Section 815.206.
SECTION 5. Section 815.202(f), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(f) Subject to Section 815.3016, the [The] board of trustees
may specifically delegate any right, power, or duty imposed or
conferred on the executive director by law to another employee of
the retirement system. If not so specifically delegated and
subject to Section 815.3016, the executive director may delegate to
another employee of the retirement system any right, power, or duty
assigned to the executive director.
SECTION 6. Section 815.206(c), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(c) At least once every four [five] years, the actuary,
under the direction of the board of trustees, shall:
(1) make an actuarial investigation of the mortality,
service, and compensation experience of the members and
beneficiaries of the retirement system; and
(2) make a valuation of the assets and liabilities of
the retirement system's funds.
SECTION 7. Sections 815.301(b) and (c), Government Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(b) Except as provided by Section 815.3016, the [The] board
of trustees may delegate its authority under Subsection (a) to the
executive director. Subject to Section 815.3016, the [The] board
of trustees or the executive director may, under the standard of
care provided by Section 815.307, invest and reinvest any of the
retirement system's assets and may commingle assets of the trust
fund and the law enforcement and custodial officer supplemental
retirement fund with the assets of the Judicial Retirement System
of Texas Plan Two for investment purposes, as long as proportionate
ownership records are maintained and credited. Investments may
include home office facilities, including land, equipment, and
office building, used in administering the retirement system.
(c) Subject to Section 815.3016, the [The] board of trustees
may contract with private professional investment managers to
assist the board in investing the assets of the retirement system.
SECTION 8. Subchapter D, Chapter 815, Government Code, is
amended by adding Sections 815.3015 and 815.3016 to read as
follows:
Sec. 815.3015. TRACKING AND REPORTING OF PROFIT SHARE.
(a) In this section:
(1) "Alternative investment" means an investment in a
private equity fund, private real estate fund, hedge fund,
infrastructure fund, or another asset as further defined by rule of
the board of trustees.
(2) "Profit share" means an amount received by a
private professional investment manager either in consideration
for achieving certain investment returns or as part of the
negotiated division of investment returns between the private
professional investment manager and an investor. The term includes
a performance fee, incentive fee, and carried interest.
(b) The board of trustees shall develop a consistent method,
guided by best industry practices and standards, to collect or
calculate profit share data in connection with alternative
investments of the retirement system.
(c) The board of trustees shall consistently track profit
share data collected or calculated in accordance with Subsection
(b) and the amount of realized gains for the retirement system from
the associated alternative investments.
(d) The board of trustees shall report, at a minimum, the
aggregate amount of profit shares received by private professional
investment managers in connection with alternative investments of
the retirement system, categorized by asset class, in the annual
financial report required under Section 2101.011 and in other
appropriate investment reports and board presentations.
(e) The board of trustees may adopt rules necessary to
implement this section.
Sec. 815.3016. APPROVAL OF CERTAIN ALTERNATIVE
INVESTMENTS. (a) In this section, "alternative investment" has
the meaning assigned by Section 815.3015.
(b) The executive director, a private professional
investment manager, or any other person delegated authority to
invest or reinvest retirement system assets under Section
815.202(f) or 815.301 may not invest retirement system assets in a
single alternative investment that exceeds 0.6 percent of the total
market value of the trust fund established by Section 815.310 as
reported in the most recent annual financial report required under
Section 2101.011 unless the board of trustees votes to approve the
investment.
(c) The board of trustees may hold a closed meeting by
telephone conference call or video conference call to consider and
discuss an alternative investment or a potential alternative
investment under this section, regardless of whether a quorum is
physically present at one location of the meeting.
(d) Chapter 551 does not require the board of trustees to
confer with one or more employees, consultants, or legal counsel of
the retirement system or with a third party in an open meeting if
the only purpose of the conference is to receive information from or
question the employees, consultants, or legal counsel of the
retirement system or the third party relating to an alternative
investment or a potential alternative investment under this
section.
(e) During a closed meeting held under this section, members
of the board of trustees may not deliberate public business or
agency policy that affects public business.
(f) A final action, decision, or vote on a matter considered
or discussed in a closed meeting held under this section may only be
made in an open meeting that is held in compliance with the notice
provisions of Chapter 551.
(g) The board of trustees may adopt rules necessary to
implement this section.
SECTION 9. Section 840.005, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 840.005. ADOPTING TABLES AND RATES. At least once
every four years, the [The] board of trustees by rule shall adopt
interest rates and mortality, service, and other tables the board
considers necessary for the retirement system after considering the
results of the actuary's investigation of the mortality, service,
and compensation experience of the system's members and
beneficiaries under Section 815.206.
SECTION 10. Section 1551.061, Insurance Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 1551.061. ANNUAL REPORT. The board of trustees shall
submit a written report not later than February [January] 1 of each
year to the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the house of
representatives, and Legislative Budget Board concerning the
coverages provided and the benefits and services being received by
all participants under this chapter. The report must include:
(1) information about the effectiveness and
efficiency of:
(A) [(1)] managed care cost containment
practices; and
(B) [(2)] fraud detection and prevention
procedures;
(2) basic information about each group coverage plan
provided under this chapter, including the number of participants
in each plan and the claims amounts and administrative expenses
incurred under each plan;
(3) a summary of recent changes to the benefits
provided under this chapter that highlights any key benefits the
board of trustees evaluated but did not implement;
(4) a discussion of trends in claims under group
coverage plans as well as other areas of interest identified by the
board of trustees;
(5) recommendations for any statutory changes the
board of trustees determines necessary to achieve its goals for the
group benefits program; and
(6) any other information the board of trustees
determines appropriate.
SECTION 11. Section 1551.355, Insurance Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
(d) The board of trustees shall develop and implement a
process to allow an employee, participant, annuitant, or covered
dependent affected by a determination described by Section 1551.352
to participate directly in the process of appealing the
determination.
SECTION 12. Subchapter H, Chapter 1551, Insurance Code, is
amended by adding Section 1551.363 to read as follows:
Sec. 1551.363. PRECEDENT MANUAL. (a) The board of
trustees shall develop and maintain a precedent manual relating to
the enrollment and claims determinations under Section 1551.352 and
appeals of those determinations. The precedent manual:
(1) must be composed of precedent-establishing
determinations made by the board, executive director, or other
staff, initially and on appeal, and include examples of previous
determinations that are consistent with the identified precedent;
and
(2) may include other information identified by the
board.
(b) The board of trustees shall make the precedent manual
available to appropriate staff and to employees, participants,
annuitants, and covered dependents.
(c) The board of trustees and staff involved in the claims
appeal process are not bound by a decision in the manual.
SECTION 13. Notwithstanding Section 815.009(a), Government
Code, as added by this Act, a member of the board of trustees of the
Employees Retirement System of Texas who has not completed the
training required by Section 815.009, Government Code, as added by
this Act, may vote, deliberate, and be counted as a member in
attendance at a meeting of the board of trustees until December 31,
2017.
SECTION 14. The board of trustees of the Employees
Retirement System of Texas, and the actuary designated by the
board, are not required to complete an actuarial investigation in
the period prescribed by Section 815.206(c), Government Code, as
amended by this Act, or adopt interest rates or mortality, service,
or other tables based on that investigation in the period
prescribed by Sections 815.105 and 840.005, Government Code, as
amended by this Act, until the later of December 31, 2022, or the
fourth anniversary of the date the board of trustees adopts
actuarial assumptions and tables under those sections for the first
time after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 15. The Employees Retirement System of Texas shall,
in a contract between the retirement system and a private
professional investment manager or other person under authority of
Sections 815.202(f) and 815.301, Government Code, as amended by
this Act, that is entered into or renewed on or after the effective
date of this Act, require that the private professional investment
manager or other person comply with Section 815.3016, Government
Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 16. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 301 passed the Senate on
April 4, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0;
May 11, 2017, Senate refused to concur in House amendments and
requested appointment of Conference Committee; May 16, 2017, House
granted request of the Senate; May 28, 2017, Senate adopted
Conference Committee Report by the following vote: Yeas 31,
Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 301 passed the House, with
amendments, on April 28, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 136,
Nays 0, two present not voting; May 16, 2017, House granted request
of the Senate for appointment of Conference Committee;
May 20, 2017, House adopted Conference Committee Report by the
following vote: Yeas 135, Nays 0, two present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor