85R12441 YDB-F
By: Hefner H.B. No. 3132
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to financial assistance paid to the survivors of certain
law enforcement officers and employees killed in the line of duty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 615.121(a), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) The state shall pay the following benefits to an
eligible surviving spouse of a peace officer, a jailer, a county
jailer or guard, or an employee of the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice, as described by Section 615.003(1), (4), [or] (6), or (7),
who was killed in the line of duty and who had not qualified for an
annuity under an employees' retirement plan:
(1) funeral expenses related to the deceased person
[officer or employee]; and
(2) monthly payments that equal the greater of:
(A) the monthly annuity payment the deceased
person [officer or employee] would have received if the deceased
person [officer or employee] had survived, had retired on the last
day of the month in which the person [officer or employee] died, and
had been eligible to receive an annuity under an employees'
retirement plan; or
(B) the minimum monthly annuity payment the
deceased person [officer or employee] would have received if the
person [officer or employee] had been employed by the state for 10
years, had been paid a salary at the lowest amount provided by the
General Appropriations Act for a position of peace officer, jailer,
county jailer or guard, or employee of the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice, as described by Section 615.003(1), (4), [or]
(6), or (7), and had been eligible to retire under the Employees
Retirement System of Texas.
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply to a
payment of assistance to survivors of certain law enforcement
officers and employees on or after the effective date of this Act
regardless of the date the officer or employee died.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.