By: Harper-Brown, Capriglione H.B. No. 626
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the number of hours certain employees must work to be
eligible to participate in the Texas Municipal Retirement System.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 851.001(8), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(8) "Employee" means a person, including a person
serving a period of probationary employment, who receives
compensation from and is certified by a municipality as being
regularly engaged in the performance of duties of:
(A) an appointive office or position that
normally requires services from the person for not less than 1,000
hours a year or the number of hours required by an ordinance adopted
under Section 851.0011; or
(B) an elective office that normally requires
services from the person for not less than 1,000 hours a year, in a
municipality that began participating in the retirement system
after December 31, 1981, or that has adopted a membership
requirement under Section 852.107.
SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 851, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 851.0011 to read as follows:
Sec. 851.0011. OPTIONAL ALTERNATIVE DEFINITION OF
EMPLOYEE. (a) The governing body of a participating municipality
by ordinance may adopt an alternative definition of "employee" for
purposes of this subtitle only to the extent that the alternative
definition increases the number of hours a person in an appointive
office or position, other than a person employed by the
municipality in any position in the municipal police or fire
department, is normally required to serve under Section
851.001(8)(A) from not less than 1,000 hours a year to not less than
1,500 hours a year.
(b) An ordinance under this section:
(1) subject to Subsection (c), must designate an
effective date of the ordinance; and
(2) may apply only to an employee of the participating
municipality who is hired on or after the effective date of the
ordinance.
(c) The earliest permissible effective date of an ordinance
under this section is the first day of the next month following the
first full calendar month following the date the participating
municipality provides notice and a copy of the ordinance to the
retirement system.
(d) The board of trustees may adopt rules limiting the
frequency with which participating municipalities may adopt
alternative definitions of "employee" through:
(1) adoption of an ordinance under Subsection (a); or
(2) modification or repeal of an ordinance adopted
under Subsection (a).
SECTION 3. Nothing in this Act is intended to change the law
with respect to the ability of a retiree to receive a retirement
annuity after resuming employment with the same or a different
municipality that participates in the Texas Municipal Retirement
System.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.