By: Wilson H.B. No. 245
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the treatment of military service credit in the
Employees Retirement System of Texas as law enforcement or
custodial officer service.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as the Tom Garey Act.
SECTION 2. Section 813.302, Government Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection (b-1) to
read as follows:
(a) An eligible member may establish service credit or
service credit as a law enforcement or custodial officer in the
retirement system for military service performed that is creditable
as provided by Section 813.301.
(b) A member eligible to establish military service credit
is one who:
(1) does not receive and is not eligible to receive
federal retirement payments based on 20 years or more of active
federal military duty;
(2) has been released from military duty under
conditions not dishonorable; and
(3) has established service credit in the retirement
system for membership service performed after the member's date of
release from active military duty.
(b-1) A member is eligible to establish military service
credit as a law enforcement or custodial officer under Subsection
(b) only if the service credit described by Subsection (b)(3)
includes credit in the retirement system for membership service
performed as a law enforcement or custodial officer.
SECTION 3. Section 813.505(b), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) A member claiming credit in the employee class for
military service not previously established shall, for each month
of the service, pay a contribution in an amount equal to [the
greater of]:
(1) if claiming service credit, other than service
credit as a law enforcement or custodial officer, the amount that
the member contributed for the first full month of membership
service, other than service as a law enforcement or custodial
officer, that is after the member's date of release from active
military duty and that is credited in the retirement system; or
(2) if claiming service credit as a law enforcement or
custodial officer, the amount that the member contributed for the
first full month of membership service as a law enforcement or
custodial officer that is after the member's date of release from
active military duty and that is credited in the retirement system
[$18].
SECTION 4. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
military service credit in the Employees Retirement System of Texas
that is established on or after the effective date of this Act.
Military service credit in that retirement system that is
established before the effective date of this Act is governed by the
law in effect on the date the military service credit was
established, and the former law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.