Bill Text: TX SB500 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relating to the effect of certain felony convictions of public elected officers.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 81-18)
Status: (Passed) 2017-06-06 - Effective immediately [SB500 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-SB500-Enrolled.html
| S.B. No. 500 | ||
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| relating to the effect of certain felony convictions of public | ||
| elected officers. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Chapter 810, Government Code, is amended by | ||
| adding Section 810.002 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 810.002. CERTAIN ELECTED OFFICIALS INELIGIBLE FOR | ||
| RETIREMENT ANNUITY. (a) In this section: | ||
| (1) "Governing body of a public retirement system" and | ||
| "public retirement system" have the meanings assigned by Section | ||
| 802.001. | ||
| (2) "Qualifying felony" means any felony involving: | ||
| (A) bribery; | ||
| (B) the embezzlement, extortion, or other theft | ||
| of public money; | ||
| (C) perjury; | ||
| (D) coercion of public servant or voter; | ||
| (E) tampering with governmental record; | ||
| (F) misuse of official information; | ||
| (G) conspiracy or the attempt to commit any of | ||
| the offenses described by Paragraphs (A)-(F); or | ||
| (H) abuse of official capacity. | ||
| (b) This section applies only to a person who is: | ||
| (1) a member of the elected class of the Employees | ||
| Retirement System of Texas as described by Section 812.002(a)(1) or | ||
| (2); or | ||
| (2) otherwise eligible for membership in a public | ||
| retirement system wholly or partly because the person was elected | ||
| or appointed to an elected office. | ||
| (c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), a member of a | ||
| public retirement system is not eligible to receive a service | ||
| retirement annuity under the retirement system if the member is | ||
| convicted of a qualifying felony committed while in office and | ||
| arising directly from the official duties of that elected office. | ||
| (d) The retirement system, on receipt of notice of a | ||
| conviction under Subsection (e) or (k), any similar notice of a | ||
| conviction of a qualifying felony from a United States district | ||
| court or United States attorney, or any other information that the | ||
| retirement system determines by rule is sufficient to establish a | ||
| conviction of a qualifying felony, shall suspend payments of a | ||
| service retirement annuity to a person the system determines is | ||
| ineligible to receive the annuity under Subsection (c). A person | ||
| whose conviction is overturned on appeal or who meets the | ||
| requirements for innocence under Section 103.001(a)(2), Civil | ||
| Practice and Remedies Code: | ||
| (1) is entitled to receive an amount equal to the | ||
| accrued total of payments and interest earned on the payments | ||
| withheld during the suspension period; and | ||
| (2) may resume receipt of annuity payments on payment | ||
| to the retirement system of an amount equal to the contributions | ||
| refunded to the person under Subsection (f). | ||
| (e) Not later than the 30th day after the conviction of a | ||
| person of a qualifying felony, the governmental entity to which the | ||
| person was elected or appointed must provide written notice of the | ||
| conviction to the public retirement system in which the person is | ||
| enrolled. The notice must comply with the administrative rules | ||
| adopted by the public retirement system under Subsection (j). | ||
| (f) A member who is ineligible to receive a service | ||
| retirement annuity under Subsection (c) is entitled to a refund of | ||
| the member's service retirement annuity contributions, including | ||
| interest earned on those contributions. A refund under this | ||
| subsection is subject to an award of all or part of the member's | ||
| service retirement annuity contributions to a former spouse, | ||
| including as a just and right division of the contributions on | ||
| divorce, payment of child support, or payment of spousal | ||
| maintenance or contractual alimony or other order of a court. | ||
| (g) Benefits payable to an alternate payee under Chapter 804 | ||
| who is recognized by a qualified domestic relations order | ||
| established before the effective date of this subsection are not | ||
| affected by a member's ineligibility to receive a service | ||
| retirement annuity under Subsection (c). | ||
| (h) On conviction of a member for a qualifying felony: | ||
| (1) a court may, in the same manner as in a divorce or | ||
| annulment proceeding, make a just and right division of the | ||
| member's service retirement annuity by awarding to the member's | ||
| spouse all or part of the community property interest in the annuity | ||
| forfeited by the member; and | ||
| (2) a court shall, if the member's service retirement | ||
| annuity was partitioned or exchanged by written agreement of the | ||
| spouses as provided by Subchapter B, Chapter 4, Family Code, before | ||
| the member's commission of the offense, award the annuity forfeited | ||
| by the member to the member's spouse as provided in the agreement. | ||
| (i) Ineligibility for a service retirement annuity under | ||
| this section does not impair a person's right to any other | ||
| retirement benefit for which the person is eligible. | ||
| (j) The governing body of a public retirement system shall | ||
| adopt rules and procedures to implement this section. | ||
| (k) A court shall notify the retirement system of the terms | ||
| of a conviction of a person convicted of an offense described by | ||
| Subsection (c). | ||
| (l) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, if | ||
| the spouse of a member convicted of a qualifying felony is convicted | ||
| of the felony as a party to the offense as defined by Section 7.01, | ||
| Penal Code, or of another qualifying offense arising out of the same | ||
| criminal episode as defined by Section 3.01, Penal Code, the spouse | ||
| forfeits the member's service retirement annuity and service | ||
| retirement contributions to the same extent as the member. | ||
| SECTION 2. Chapter 601, Government Code, is amended by | ||
| adding Section 601.011 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 601.011. VACANCY ON FINAL FELONY CONVICTION OF MEMBER | ||
| OF LEGISLATURE, GOVERNOR, OR STATE ELECTED OFFICIAL. A member of | ||
| the legislature, the governor, or a state elected official | ||
| convicted of a felony vacates the member's, governor's, or | ||
| official's office on the date the conviction becomes final. | ||
| SECTION 3. Article 42.01, Code of Criminal Procedure, is | ||
| amended by adding Section 12 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 12. In addition to the information described by | ||
| Section 1, the judgment should reflect affirmative findings entered | ||
| pursuant to Article 42.0196. | ||
| SECTION 4. Chapter 42, Code of Criminal Procedure, is | ||
| amended by adding Article 42.0196 to read as follows: | ||
| Art. 42.0196. FINDING REGARDING OFFENSE RELATED TO | ||
| PERFORMANCE OF PUBLIC SERVICE. (a) In the trial of an offense | ||
| described by Section 810.002, Government Code, the judge shall make | ||
| an affirmative finding of fact and enter the affirmative finding in | ||
| the judgment in the case if the judge determines that the defendant | ||
| is: | ||
| (1) a member of the elected class described by Section | ||
| 810.002(b)(1), Government Code, while a member of the Employees | ||
| Retirement System of Texas; or | ||
| (2) a holder of an elected office for which the | ||
| defendant wholly or partly became eligible for membership in a | ||
| public retirement system. | ||
| (b) A judge who makes the affirmative finding described by | ||
| this article shall make the determination and provide the notice | ||
| required by Section 810.002(k), Government Code. | ||
| SECTION 5. Section 810.002, Government Code, as added by | ||
| this Act, applies only to a member of a public retirement system who | ||
| holds or has held elected office and, on or after the effective date | ||
| of this Act, commits an offense that is a qualifying felony as | ||
| defined by that section. A person who commits a qualifying felony | ||
| before the effective date of this Act is subject to the law in | ||
| effect on the date the offense was committed, and the former law is | ||
| continued in effect for that purpose. For purposes of this section, | ||
| an offense was committed before the effective date of this Act if | ||
| any element of the offense occurred before that date. | ||
| SECTION 6. 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, 2017. | ||
| ______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
| President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
| I hereby certify that S.B. No. 500 passed the Senate on | ||
| February 8, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0; and that | ||
| the Senate concurred in House amendments on May 22, 2017, by the | ||
| following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Secretary of the Senate | ||
| I hereby certify that S.B. No. 500 passed the House, with | ||
| amendments, on May 15, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 141, | ||
| Nays 0, one present not voting. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Chief Clerk of the House | ||
| Approved: | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Date | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Governor | ||
