Texas 2025 - 89th Regular

Texas House Bill HB3870 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	89R13013 RDR-D
2	2	By: Allen H.B. No. 3870
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7	7	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
8	8	AN ACT
9	9	relating to certain benefits paid by the Employees Retirement
10	10	System of Texas.
11	11	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
12	12	SECTION 1. Subchapter G, Chapter 814, Government Code, is
13	13	amended by adding Sections 814.605 and 814.606 to read as follows:
14	14	Sec. 814.605. ONE-TIME ADJUSTMENT TO BENEFITS. (a) The
15	15	amount of a service retirement, disability retirement, death, or
16	16	other monthly benefit paid under this chapter or Chapter 804 to an
17	17	annuitant based on service credited in the employee class is
18	18	increased to include a one-time 10 percent adjustment payable each
19	19	month of each calendar year beginning with the 2026 calendar year in
20	20	accordance with this section.
21	21	(b) The board of trustees shall recompute the amount of a
22	22	benefit paid monthly under this chapter or Chapter 804 by applying
23	23	the 10 percent adjustment to the monthly amount otherwise required
24	24	to be paid as determined in accordance with those chapters.
25	25	Sec. 814.606. ANNUAL COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENT. (a)
26	26	Notwithstanding Section 814.604 or 814.605, the amount of a service
27	27	retirement, disability retirement, death, or other monthly benefit
28	28	paid under this chapter or Chapter 804 to an annuitant based on
29	29	service credited in the employee class is increased in accordance
30	30	with this section as necessary to reflect inflation.
31	31	(b) Each year, during the last seven days of October, the
32	32	board of trustees shall set the rate of the adjustment for the next
33	33	calendar year to equal the annual percentage increase, if any, in
34	34	the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical
35	35	Workers (CPI-W) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the
36	36	United States Department of Labor as determined by the commissioner
37	37	of social security under 42 U.S.C. Section 415(i) for purposes of
38	38	providing an annual cost-of-living increase to social security
39	39	benefit payments payable in the next calendar year.
40	40	(c) Subject to Subsection (d), the board of trustees shall
41	41	increase the amount of a benefit payable under this chapter by
42	42	applying the adjustment rate set by the board of trustees under
43	43	Subsection (b) to the amount otherwise required to be paid as
44	44	determined in accordance with the other applicable provisions of
45	45	this chapter or Chapter 804.
46	46	(d) The board of trustees may not pay a benefit increase
47	47	under this section in any calendar year unless the board finds that
48	48	the retirement system is actuarially sound and has money available
49	49	to pay increased benefits in that year. If the board of trustees
50	50	finds that the retirement system is actuarially sound, but that the
51	51	amount of money available is not sufficient to pay the full amount
52	52	of the adjustment under Subsection (b), the board shall compute the
53	53	largest rate of adjustment possible for the amount of money
54	54	available while maintaining the actuarial soundness of the system
55	55	and shall use that rate in increasing benefits under Subsection (c)
56	56	for that calendar year.
57	57	SECTION 2. (a) Subject to Subsection (i) of this section
58	58	and Section 811.006, Government Code, the Employees Retirement
59	59	System of Texas shall make a one-time supplemental payment of a
60	60	service retirement, disability retirement, death, or other monthly
61	61	benefit, as provided by this section.
62	62	(b) The supplemental payment is payable in January 2026 and,
63	63	to the extent practicable, on a date or dates that coincide with the
64	64	regular annuity payment payable to each eligible annuitant.
65	65	(c) The amount of the supplemental payment is equal to the
66	66	lesser of:
67	67	(1) $2,000; or
68	68	(2) the gross amount of the regular annuity payment to
69	69	which the eligible annuitant is otherwise entitled for the month of
70	70	December 2025.
71	71	(d) The Employees Retirement System of Texas shall make
72	72	applicable tax withholding and other legally required deductions
73	73	before disbursing the supplemental payment. A supplemental payment
74	74	under this section is in addition to the regular monthly annuity
75	75	payment to which the eligible annuitant is otherwise entitled.
76	76	(e) Subject to Subsection (f) of this section, to be
77	77	eligible for the supplemental payment, a person must be, for the
78	78	month of December 2025, an annuitant eligible to receive based on
79	79	service credited in the employee class:
80	80	(1) a standard retirement annuity payment;
81	81	(2) an optional service retirement annuity payment as
82	82	either a retiree or beneficiary under Section 814.108, Government
83	83	Code;
84	84	(3) a standard or occupational disability retirement
85	85	annuity payment;
86	86	(4) a death benefit annuity payment under Section
87	87	814.305, Government Code; or
88	88	(5) an alternate payee annuity payment under Section
89	89	804.005, Government Code.
90	90	(f) If the annuitant is a retiree or a beneficiary under an
91	91	optional retirement payment plan, to be eligible for the
92	92	supplemental payment, the effective date of the retirement of the
93	93	member of the Employees Retirement System of Texas must have been on
94	94	or before September 1, 2024. The supplemental payment shall be made
95	95	to an alternate payee who is an annuitant under Section 804.005,
96	96	Government Code, only if the annuity payment to the alternate payee
97	97	commenced on or before September 1, 2024. The supplemental payment
98	98	is in addition to the guaranteed number of payments under Section
99	99	814.108, Government Code, and may not be counted as one of the
100	100	guaranteed monthly payments.
101	101	(g) The supplemental payment does not apply to payments
102	102	based on service credited in the elected class, including payments
103	103	under:
104	104	(1) Section 814.103, 814.205, 820.053(a)(3), or
105	105	820.054, Government Code, relating to retirees or disability
106	106	retirees from the elected class of membership;
107	107	(2) a subtitle other than Subtitle B, Title 8,
108	108	Government Code, except as provided by Subsection (e)(5) of this
109	109	section; or
110	110	(3) Section 814.304 or 820.054, Government Code,
111	111	relating to retiree survivor beneficiaries who receive a survivor
112	112	annuity as the surviving spouse of a member of the elected class.
113	113	(h) Except as provided by this section, the board of
114	114	trustees of the Employees Retirement System of Texas shall
115	115	determine the eligibility for and the amount and timing of a
116	116	supplemental payment and the manner in which the payment is made.
117	117	(i) The Employees Retirement System of Texas is required to
118	118	make a one-time supplemental payment of benefits under this section
119	119	only if the board of trustees of the Employees Retirement System of
120	120	Texas finds that the legislature appropriated money to the
121	121	retirement system in an amount sufficient to provide the payment
122	122	without increasing the unfunded actuarial liabilities of the
123	123	retirement system. The amount appropriated by the legislature to
124	124	provide the payment must be in addition to any amounts the state is
125	125	required to contribute to the retirement system under Subchapter E,
126	126	Chapter 815, Government Code. If the board of trustees of the
127	127	Employees Retirement System of Texas finds that the legislature did
128	128	not appropriate money in an amount sufficient to provide a one-time
129	129	supplemental payment of benefits under this section without
130	130	increasing the unfunded actuarial liabilities of the retirement
131	131	system, the retirement system may not make the payment.
132	132	SECTION 3. Sections 814.605 and 814.606, Government Code,
133	133	as added by this Act, apply only to a monthly benefit payment made
134	134	by the Employees Retirement System of Texas on or after January 1,
135	135	2026.
136	136	SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.