By: Huffman, Flores S.B. No. 1737
(In the Senate - Filed February 27, 2025; March 13, 2025,
read first time and referred to Committee on Finance;
March 19, 2025, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 15,
Nays 0; March 19, 2025, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to service retirement benefits payable by the Employees
Retirement System of Texas to certain law enforcement officers and
custodial officers.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 811.001(8) and (9), Government Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(8) "Custodial officer":
(A) means a member of the retirement system who
is employed:
(i) by the Board of Pardons and Paroles or
the Texas Department of Criminal Justice as a parole officer or
caseworker;
(ii) by the Texas Juvenile Justice
Department in a position in which the member's service is
creditable as a custodial officer under Section 813.506(b-1); or
(iii) [who is employed] by the correctional
institutions division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
and certified by the department as having a normal job assignment
that requires frequent or infrequent regularly planned contact
with, and [in] close proximity to, inmates or defendants of the
correctional institutions division without the protection of bars,
doors, security screens, or similar devices and includes
assignments normally involving supervision or the potential for
supervision of inmates in inmate housing areas, educational or
recreational facilities, industrial shops, kitchens, laundries,
medical areas, agricultural shops or fields, or in other areas on or
away from property of the department; and
(B) [. The term] includes a member who transfers
from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to the managed health
care unit of The University of Texas Medical Branch or the Texas
Tech University Health Sciences Center pursuant to Section 9.01,
Chapter 238, Acts of the 73rd Legislature, 1993, elects at the time
of transfer to retain membership in the retirement system, and is
certified by the managed health care unit or the health sciences
center as having a normal job assignment described by Paragraph
(A)(iii) [this subdivision].
(9) "Law enforcement officer" means a member of the
retirement system who:
(A) has been commissioned as a peace [law
enforcement] officer by:
(i) the Department of Public Safety;[,]
(ii) the Texas Alcoholic Beverage
Commission;[,]
(iii) the Parks and Wildlife Department;
(iv) [, or] the office of inspector general
at the Texas Juvenile Justice Department;
(v) the comptroller; or
(vi) the attorney general; and
(B) is licensed [recognized] as a commissioned
peace [law enforcement] officer by the Texas Commission on Law
Enforcement.
SECTION 2. Section 813.506, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (b-1) and amending Subsection (c) to read as
follows:
(b-1) The Texas Juvenile Justice Department shall adopt
standards for determining eligibility for service credit as a
custodial officer employed by the department based on the need to
encourage early retirement of persons whose duties are hazardous.
To be creditable as custodial officer service under the Texas
Juvenile Justice Department, service must be performed:
(1) as a juvenile correctional officer, as that term
is defined by Section 242.009, Human Resources Code, or a
caseworker; or
(2) in a position, other than a position described by
Subdivision (1), the primary duties of which include the custodial
supervision of or other close, regularly planned contact with youth
in the custody of the department.
(c) The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the managed
health care unit of The University of Texas Medical Branch or the
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, the Texas Juvenile
Justice Department, or the Board of Pardons and Paroles, as
applicable, shall determine a person's eligibility to receive
credit as a custodial officer. A determination under this
subsection [of the department, unit, or board] may not be appealed
by an employee but is subject to change by the retirement system.
SECTION 3. Section 814.104(b), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) A member is eligible to retire and receive a service
retirement annuity if the member:
(1) [who] is at least 55 years old; and
(2) [who] has at least 10 years of service credit as a:
(A) law enforcement officer; [commissioned peace
officer engaged in criminal law enforcement activities of the
Department of Public Safety, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage
Commission, the Parks and Wildlife Department, or the office of
inspector general at the Texas Juvenile Justice Department,] or
(B) [as a] custodial officer[, is eligible to
retire and receive a service retirement annuity].
SECTION 4. Section 815.505, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 815.505. CERTIFICATION OF NAMES OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND
CUSTODIAL OFFICERS. Not later than the 12th day of the month
following the month in which a person begins or ceases employment as
a law enforcement officer or custodial officer, the governmental
entity that employs or ceased employing the law enforcement officer
or custodial officer [Public Safety Commission, the Texas Alcoholic
Beverage Commission, the Parks and Wildlife Commission, the office
of inspector general at the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, the
Board of Pardons and Paroles, or the Texas Board of Criminal
Justice], as applicable, shall certify to the retirement system, in
the manner prescribed by the system, the name of the employee and
such other information as the system determines is necessary for
the crediting of service and financing of benefits under this
subtitle.
SECTION 5. (a) Subject to Subsection (b) or (c) of this
section, as applicable, the changes in law made by this Act apply to
a member of the Employees Retirement System of Texas who is employed
by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, the comptroller, or the
attorney general as a law enforcement officer or custodial officer,
as applicable, on or after the effective date of this Act,
regardless of whether the member was hired before, on, or after the
effective date of this Act.
(b) This subsection applies only to a member described by
Subsection (a) of this section and not subject to Subsection (c) of
this section who, on December 1, 2024, was employed in a law
enforcement officer or custodial officer position with the Texas
Juvenile Justice Department, the comptroller, or the attorney
general, as applicable. Service credit earned by the member before
the effective date of this Act in a position for which service is
creditable as a law enforcement officer or custodial officer under
Subtitle B, Title 8, Government Code, as amended by this Act, is
considered service credit established as a law enforcement officer
or custodial officer, as applicable, for purposes of determining
the benefits payable from the law enforcement and custodial officer
supplemental retirement fund.
(c) This subsection applies only to a member described by
Subsection (a) of this section who is subject to Chapter 820,
Government Code. The member may establish service credit as a law
enforcement officer or custodial officer with the Texas Juvenile
Justice Department, the comptroller, or the attorney general, as
applicable, only for service performed on or after the effective
date of this Act.
(d) As soon as practicable after the effective date of this
Act, the board of trustees of the Employees Retirement System of
Texas, in consultation with the Texas Juvenile Justice Department,
the comptroller, and the attorney general, shall adopt rules
necessary to implement the changes in law made by this Act.
(e) The Texas Juvenile Justice Department, the comptroller,
and the attorney general shall:
(1) as soon as practicable after the effective date of
this Act, certify to the Employees Retirement System of Texas, in
the form and manner prescribed by the board of trustees of the
retirement system:
(A) the name of each member who is employed by the
department, comptroller, or attorney general as a law enforcement
officer or custodial officer on the effective date of this Act;
(B) if the member is subject to Subsection (b) of
this section, the amount of service credit established by the
member as a law enforcement officer or custodial officer before the
effective date of this Act; and
(C) any other information the retirement system
determines is necessary to credit law enforcement officer or
custodial officer service in accordance with the changes in law
made by this Act; and
(2) beginning with the first pay period that occurs
after the effective date of this Act and with respect to each member
employed by the department, comptroller, or attorney general as a
law enforcement officer or custodial officer, begin making
deductions and collecting member contributions for the law
enforcement and custodial officer supplemental retirement fund as
prescribed by Section 815.402(h) or 820.101(b), Government Code, as
applicable.
SECTION 6. (a) The Employees Retirement System of Texas is
required to implement this Act only if the board of trustees of the
Employees Retirement System of Texas finds that the 89th
Legislature appropriated money to the retirement system in an
amount sufficient to implement Section 5(b) of this Act, without
increasing the unfunded actuarial liabilities of the retirement
system. The amount appropriated by the 89th Legislature to
implement Section 5(b) of this Act must be in addition to any
amounts the state is required to contribute to the retirement
system under Subchapter E, Chapter 815, Government Code. If the
board of trustees of the Employees Retirement System of Texas finds
that the 89th Legislature did not appropriate money in an amount
sufficient to implement Section 5(b) of this Act without increasing
the unfunded actuarial liabilities of the retirement system, the
retirement system may not implement this Act.
(b) Not later than October 1, 2025, the board of trustees of
the Employees Retirement System of Texas shall make and publish in
the Texas Register:
(1) its finding under Subsection (a) of this section;
and
(2) a statement regarding whether, as a result of its
finding, the retirement system is or is not implementing this Act.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.
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