By: Turner of Dallas, et al. H.B. No. 3635
(Senate Sponsor - Hughes)
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 9, 2019;
May 10, 2019, read first time and referred to Committee on State
Affairs; May 19, 2019, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 19, 2019, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to financial assistance paid to the survivors of certain
law enforcement officers, firefighters, and other public employees
killed in the line of duty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 615.022, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 615.022. PAYMENT TO SURVIVORS. (a) If there is an
eligible surviving spouse, the state shall pay the benefits
described by Subsection (d) [$500,000] to the eligible surviving
spouse.
(b) If there is no eligible surviving spouse, the state
shall pay the benefits described by Subsection (d) [$500,000] in
equal shares to surviving children.
(c) If there is no eligible surviving spouse or child, the
state shall pay the benefits described by Subsection (d) [$500,000]
in equal shares to surviving parents.
(d) An eligible survivor, or eligible survivors in equal
shares, are entitled to receive a lump sum payment in the amount
provided by this subsection. The lump sum payment amount payable to
an eligible survivor during the 12 months beginning September 1,
2019, is $500,000. Effective September 1 of each following year,
the board of trustees of the Employees Retirement System of Texas by
rule shall adjust the amount of the lump sum payment required under
this subsection by an amount equal to the percentage change in the
Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, published by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor
for the preceding year. The amount paid to an eligible survivor or
survivors as adjusted under this subsection is calculated based on
the date of the decedent's death and not on the date the eligible
survivor or survivors file a claim under this chapter.
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply to a
payment of assistance to survivors of certain public employees on
or after the effective date of this Act regardless of the date the
public employee died.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
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