87S20458 BDP-F
By: Dominguez H.B. No. 177
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to certain benefits paid by the Teacher Retirement System
of Texas.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. (a) Subchapter H, Chapter 824, Government Code,
is amended by adding Section 824.703 to read as follows:
Sec. 824.703. COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENTS FOR INFLATION;
ANNUAL DETERMINATION. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, the
amount of a service retirement benefit, disability retirement
benefit, or death benefit paid under this chapter is adjusted in
accordance with this section as necessary to reflect inflation.
(b) Each year, during the last seven days of October, the
board of trustees shall set the rate of the adjustment for the next
calendar year to equal the annual percentage increase, if any, in
the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical
Workers (CPI-W) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the
United States Department of Labor as determined by the commissioner
of social security under 42 U.S.C. Section 415(i) for purposes of
providing an annual cost-of-living increase to social security
benefit payments payable in the next calendar year.
(c) Subject to Subsection (d), the board of trustees shall
increase the amount of a benefit payable under this chapter by
applying the adjustment rate set by the board of trustees under
Subsection (b) to the amount otherwise required to be paid as
determined in accordance with the other applicable provisions of
this chapter.
(d) The board of trustees may not pay a benefit increase
under this section in any calendar year unless the board finds that
the retirement system is actuarially sound and has money available
to pay increased benefits in that year. If the board of trustees
finds that the retirement system is actuarially sound, but that the
amount of money available is not sufficient to pay the full amount
of the adjustment under Subsection (b), the board shall compute the
largest rate of adjustment possible for the amount of money
available while maintaining the actuarial soundness of the system
and shall use that rate in increasing benefits under Subsection (c)
for that calendar year.
(b) This section applies only to a benefit paid by the
Teacher Retirement System of Texas on or after January 1, 2023.
SECTION 2. (a) Subject to Section 821.006, Government
Code, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas shall make a one-time
supplemental payment of a retirement or death benefit, as provided
by this section.
(b) The supplemental payment is payable not later than
January 2022 and, to the extent practicable, on a date or dates that
coincide with the regular annuity payment payable to each eligible
annuitant.
(c) The amount of the supplemental payment is equal to the
lesser of:
(1) the gross amount of the regular annuity payment to
which the eligible annuitant is otherwise entitled for the calendar
month immediately prior to the calendar month in which the Teacher
Retirement System of Texas issues the one-time supplemental payment
in accordance with Subsection (b) of this section; or
(2) $2,400.
(d) The supplemental payment is payable without regard to
any forfeiture of benefits under Section 824.601, Government Code.
The Teacher Retirement System of Texas shall make applicable tax
withholding and other legally required deductions before
disbursing the supplemental payment. A supplemental payment under
this section is in addition to and not in lieu of the regular
monthly annuity payment to which the eligible annuitant is
otherwise entitled.
(e) Subject to Subsection (f) of this section, to be
eligible for the supplemental payment, a person must be, for the
calendar month immediately prior to the calendar month in which the
Teacher Retirement System of Texas issues the one-time supplemental
payment in accordance with Subsection (b) of this section, and
disregarding any forfeiture of benefits under Section 824.601,
Government Code, an annuitant eligible to receive:
(1) a standard retirement annuity payment;
(2) an optional retirement annuity payment as either a
retiree or beneficiary;
(3) a life annuity payment under Section
824.402(a)(4), Government Code;
(4) an annuity for a guaranteed period of 60 months
under Section 824.402(a)(3), Government Code; or
(5) an alternate payee annuity payment under Section
804.005, Government Code.
(f) If the annuitant is a retiree or a beneficiary under an
optional retirement payment plan, to be eligible for the
supplemental payment, the effective date of the retirement of the
member of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas must have been on
or before July 31, 2021. If the annuitant is a beneficiary under
Section 824.402(a)(3) or (4), Government Code, to be eligible for
the supplemental payment, the date of death of the member of the
retirement system must have been on or before July 31, 2021. The
supplemental payment shall be made to an alternate payee who is an
annuitant under Section 804.005, Government Code, only if the
annuity payment to the alternate payee commenced on or before July
31, 2021. The supplemental payment is in addition to the guaranteed
number of payments under Section 824.204(c)(3) or (4), Section
824.308(c)(3) or (4), or Section 824.402(a)(3), Government Code,
and may not be counted as one of the guaranteed monthly payments.
(g) The supplemental payment does not apply to payments
under:
(1) Section 824.304(a), Government Code, relating to
disability retirees with less than 10 years of service credit;
(2) Section 824.804(b), Government Code, relating to
participants in the deferred retirement option plan with regard to
payments from their deferred retirement option plan accounts;
(3) Section 824.501(a), Government Code, relating to
retiree survivor beneficiaries who receive a survivor annuity in an
amount fixed by statute; or
(4) Section 824.404(a), Government Code, relating to
active member survivor beneficiaries who receive a survivor annuity
in an amount fixed by statute.
(h) Except as provided by this section, the board of
trustees of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas shall determine
the eligibility for and the amount and timing of a supplemental
payment and the manner in which the payment is made.
SECTION 3. 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 on the 91st day after the last day of the
legislative session.