Texas 2017 - 85th Regular

Texas House Bill HB2414 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	85R45 SGA-D
2	2	By: Fallon H.B. No. 2414
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to the nonconfidential status of certain state pension
8	8	information.
9	9	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
10	10	SECTION 1. Section 552.0038, Government Code, is amended by
11	11	amending Subsections (c), (h), and (i) and adding Subsection (h-1)
12	12	to read as follows:
13	13	(c) Except as provided by Subsection (h-1), records
14	14	[Records] of individual members, annuitants, retirees,
15	15	beneficiaries, alternate payees, program participants, or persons
16	16	eligible for benefits from a retirement system under a retirement
17	17	plan or program administered by the retirement system that are in
18	18	the custody of the system or in the custody of an administering
19	19	firm, a carrier, or another governmental agency, including the
20	20	comptroller, acting in cooperation with or on behalf of the
21	21	retirement system are confidential and not subject to public
22	22	disclosure. The retirement system, administering firm, carrier, or
23	23	governmental agency is not required to accept or comply with a
24	24	request for a record or information about a record or to seek an
25	25	opinion from the attorney general because the records are exempt
26	26	from the provisions of this chapter, except as otherwise provided
27	27	by this section.
28	28	(h) Except as provided by Subsection (h-1), the [The]
29	29	retirement system has sole discretion in determining whether a
30	30	record is subject to this section. For purposes of this section, a
31	31	record includes any identifying information about a person, living
32	32	or deceased, who is or was a member, annuitant, retiree,
33	33	beneficiary, alternate payee, program participant, or person
34	34	eligible for benefits from the retirement system under any
35	35	retirement plan or program administered by the retirement system.
36	36	(h-1) This subsection applies only to a person who is or was
37	37	a member of the legislature and receives a service retirement
38	38	annuity from the Employees Retirement System of Texas. For a person
39	39	to whom this subsection applies, the Employees Retirement System of
40	40	Texas may not withhold as confidential the person's name or the
41	41	amount of the person's annuity.
42	42	(i) Except as provided by Subsection (h-1), to [To] the
43	43	extent of a conflict between this section and any other law with
44	44	respect to the confidential information held by a public retirement
45	45	system or other entity described by Subsection (c) concerning an
46	46	individual member, annuitant, retiree, beneficiary, alternate
47	47	payee, program participant, or person eligible for benefits from
48	48	the retirement system, the prevailing provision is the provision
49	49	that provides the greater substantive and procedural protection for
50	50	the privacy of information concerning that individual member,
51	51	annuitant, retiree, beneficiary, alternate payee, program
52	52	participant, or person eligible for benefits.
53	53	SECTION 2. Sections 815.503(a) and (e), Government Code,
54	54	are amended to read as follows:
55	55	(a) Except as provided by Section 552.0038(h-1), records
56	56	[Records] of members, annuitants, retirees, beneficiaries, and
57	57	alternate payees under retirement plans administered by the
58	58	retirement system that are in the custody of the system or of an
59	59	administering firm, carrier, or other governmental agency acting in
60	60	cooperation with or on behalf of the retirement system are
61	61	confidential and not subject to public disclosure, and the
62	62	retirement system, administering firm, carrier, or governmental
63	63	agency is not required to accept or comply with a request for a
64	64	record or information about a record or to seek an opinion from the
65	65	attorney general, because the records are exempt from the
66	66	provisions of Chapter 552, except as otherwise provided by this
67	67	section.
68	68	(e) Except as provided by Section 552.0038(h-1), the [The]
69	69	retirement system has sole discretion in determining if a record is
70	70	subject to this section. For purposes of this section, a record
71	71	includes any identifying information about a person, living or
72	72	deceased, who is or was a member, annuitant, retiree, beneficiary,
73	73	or alternate payee, under any retirement plan or program
74	74	administered by the retirement system.
75	75	SECTION 3. Section 552.0038(h-1), Government Code, as added
76	76	by this Act, applies only to a request for information received by
77	77	the Employees Retirement System of Texas on or after the effective
78	78	date of this Act. A request for information received before that
79	79	date is governed by the law in effect on the date the request is
80	80	received, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
81	81	SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
82	82	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
83	83	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
84	84	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
85	85	Act takes effect September 1, 2017.