84R191 SGA-D
By: Capriglione H.B. No. 1698
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
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
[Records] of individual members, annuitants, retirees,
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 [The]
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 [To] the
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
[Records] of members, annuitants, retirees, beneficiaries, and
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
provisions of Chapter 552, except as otherwise provided by this
section.
(e) Except as provided by Section 552.0038(h-1), the [The]
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, 2015.