Bill Text: TX SB730 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the nonconfidential status of certain state pension information.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-01 - Referred to Business & Commerce [SB730 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-SB730-Introduced.html
| 86R7528 LED-D | ||
| By: Fallon | S.B. No. 730 | |
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| relating to the nonconfidential status of certain state pension | ||
| information. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Section 552.0038, Government Code, is amended by | ||
| amending Subsections (c), (h), and (i) and adding Subsection (h-1) | ||
| to read as follows: | ||
| (c) Except as provided by Subsection (h-1), records | ||
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| beneficiaries, alternate payees, program participants, or persons | ||
| eligible for benefits from a retirement system under a retirement | ||
| plan or program administered by the retirement system that are in | ||
| the custody of the system or in the custody of an administering | ||
| firm, a carrier, or another governmental agency, including the | ||
| comptroller, acting in cooperation with or on behalf of the | ||
| retirement system are confidential and not subject to public | ||
| disclosure. The retirement system, administering firm, carrier, or | ||
| governmental agency is not required to accept or comply with a | ||
| request for a record or information about a record or to seek an | ||
| opinion from the attorney general because the records are exempt | ||
| from the provisions of this chapter, except as otherwise provided | ||
| by this section. | ||
| (h) Except as provided by Subsection (h-1), the [ |
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| retirement system has sole discretion in determining whether a | ||
| record is subject to this section. For purposes of this section, a | ||
| record includes any identifying information about a person, living | ||
| or deceased, who is or was a member, annuitant, retiree, | ||
| beneficiary, alternate payee, program participant, or person | ||
| eligible for benefits from the retirement system under any | ||
| retirement plan or program administered by the retirement system. | ||
| (h-1) This subsection applies only to a person who is or was | ||
| a member of the legislature and receives a service retirement | ||
| annuity from the Employees Retirement System of Texas. For a person | ||
| to whom this subsection applies, the Employees Retirement System of | ||
| Texas may not withhold as confidential the person's name or the | ||
| amount of the person's annuity. | ||
| (i) Except as provided by Subsection (h-1), to [ |
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| extent of a conflict between this section and any other law with | ||
| respect to the confidential information held by a public retirement | ||
| system or other entity described by Subsection (c) concerning an | ||
| individual member, annuitant, retiree, beneficiary, alternate | ||
| payee, program participant, or person eligible for benefits from | ||
| the retirement system, the prevailing provision is the provision | ||
| that provides the greater substantive and procedural protection for | ||
| the privacy of information concerning that individual member, | ||
| annuitant, retiree, beneficiary, alternate payee, program | ||
| participant, or person eligible for benefits. | ||
| SECTION 2. Sections 815.503(a) and (e), Government Code, | ||
| are amended to read as follows: | ||
| (a) Except as provided by Section 552.0038(h-1), records | ||
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| alternate payees under retirement plans administered by the | ||
| retirement system that are in the custody of the system or of an | ||
| administering firm, carrier, or other governmental agency acting in | ||
| cooperation with or on behalf of the retirement system are | ||
| confidential and not subject to public disclosure, and the | ||
| retirement system, administering firm, carrier, or governmental | ||
| agency is not required to accept or comply with a request for a | ||
| record or information about a record or to seek an opinion from the | ||
| attorney general, because the records are exempt from the public | ||
| access provisions of Chapter 552, except as otherwise provided by | ||
| this section. | ||
| (e) Except as provided by Section 552.0038(h-1), the [ |
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| retirement system has sole discretion in determining if a record is | ||
| subject to this section. For purposes of this section, a record | ||
| includes any identifying information about a person, living or | ||
| deceased, who is or was a member, annuitant, retiree, beneficiary, | ||
| or alternate payee, under any retirement plan or program | ||
| administered by the retirement system. | ||
| SECTION 3. Section 552.0038(h-1), Government Code, as added | ||
| by this Act, applies only to a request for information received by | ||
| the Employees Retirement System of Texas on or after the effective | ||
| date of this Act. A request for information received before that | ||
| date is governed by the law in effect on the date the request is | ||
| received, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose. | ||
| SECTION 4. 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, 2019. | ||
