Texas 2021 - 87th Regular

Texas Senate Bill SB1621 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	87R6460 JCG-D
2	2	By: Bettencourt S.B. No. 1621
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to the eligibility for a service retirement annuity of
8	8	certain members and annuitants of a public retirement system
9	9	convicted of certain felony offenses.
10	10	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
11	11	SECTION 1. The heading to Section 810.003, Government Code,
12	12	is amended to read as follows:
13	13	Sec. 810.003. CERTAIN ELECTED OFFICIALS AND PUBLIC
14	14	EMPLOYEES INELIGIBLE FOR RETIREMENT ANNUITY.
15	15	SECTION 2. Sections 810.003(b), (c), (e), (f), (g), (h),
16	16	and (k), Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
17	17	(b) This section applies only to a person who is:
18	18	(1) a member of the elected class of the Employees
19	19	Retirement System of Texas as described by Section 812.002(a)(1) or
20	20	(2); [or]
21	21	(2) [otherwise] eligible for membership in a public
22	22	retirement system wholly or partly because the person was elected
23	23	or appointed to an elected office, other than a member described by
24	24	Subdivision (1); or
25	25	(3) a member or annuitant of a public retirement
26	26	system employed by the associated governmental entity of the public
27	27	retirement system, other than a person described by Subdivision (1)
28	28	or (2).
29	29	(c) To the extent permitted under Section 66, Article XVI,
30	30	Texas Constitution, and consistent with a requirement that the
31	31	retirement system maintain the qualified status of the system's
32	32	benefit plan under Section 401(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986,
33	33	and notwithstanding any other law and except [Except] as provided
34	34	by Subsection (d), a person [member of a public retirement system]
35	35	is not eligible to receive a service retirement annuity under the
36	36	retirement system if the person [member] is:
37	37	(1) described by Subsection (b)(1) or (2) and is
38	38	convicted of a qualifying felony committed while in office and
39	39	arising directly from the official duties of that elected office;
40	40	or
41	41	(2) described by Subsection (b)(3) and is convicted of
42	42	a qualifying felony described by Subsection (a)(2)(B) or conspiracy
43	43	or the attempt to commit a qualifying felony described by
44	44	Subsection (a)(2)(B) while employed by the associated governmental
45	45	entity and arising directly from the official duties related to
46	46	that employment.
47	47	(e) Not later than the 30th day after the conviction of a
48	48	person of a qualifying felony, the governmental entity [to] which
49	49	the person was elected or appointed to or is employed by must
50	50	provide written notice of the conviction to the public retirement
51	51	system in which the person participates [is enrolled]. The notice
52	52	must comply with the administrative rules adopted by the public
53	53	retirement system under Subsection (j).
54	54	(f) A person [member] who is ineligible to receive a service
55	55	retirement annuity under Subsection (c) is entitled to a refund of
56	56	the person's [member's] service retirement annuity contributions,
57	57	including interest earned on those contributions. A refund under
58	58	this subsection is subject to an award of all or part of the
59	59	person's [member's] service retirement annuity contributions to a
60	60	former spouse, including as a just and right division of the
61	61	contributions on divorce, payment of child support, or payment of
62	62	spousal maintenance or contractual alimony or other order of a
63	63	court.
64	64	(g) Benefits payable to an alternate payee under Chapter 804
65	65	who is recognized by a qualified domestic relations order
66	66	established before the effective date of this subsection are not
67	67	affected by a person's [member's] ineligibility to receive a
68	68	service retirement annuity under Subsection (c).
69	69	(h) On conviction of a person [member] for an applicable [a]
70	70	qualifying felony:
71	71	(1) a court may, in the same manner as in a divorce or
72	72	annulment proceeding, make a just and right division of the
73	73	person's [member's] service retirement annuity by awarding to the
74	74	person's [member's] spouse all or part of the community property
75	75	interest in the annuity forfeited by the person [member]; and
76	76	(2) a court shall, if the person's [member's] service
77	77	retirement annuity was partitioned or exchanged by written
78	78	agreement of the spouses as provided by Subchapter B, Chapter 4,
79	79	Family Code, before the person's [member's] commission of the
80	80	offense, award the annuity forfeited by the person [member] to the
81	81	person's [member's] spouse as provided in the agreement.
82	82	(k) A court of this state shall notify the retirement system
83	83	of [the terms of] a conviction for an applicable qualifying felony
84	84	of a person [convicted of an offense] described by Subsection (c).
85	85	SECTION 3. Section 810.003, Government Code, as amended by
86	86	this Act, applies only to a member or annuitant of a public
87	87	retirement system who commits an offense on or after the effective
88	88	date of this Act. A member or annuitant of a public retirement
89	89	system who commits an offense before the effective date of this Act
90	90	is governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was
91	91	committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
92	92	purpose. For purposes of this section, an offense was committed
93	93	before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
94	94	occurred before that date.
95	95	SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.