89R10584 RDR-D
By: Parker S.B. No. 1892
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to providing a cost-of-living adjustment applicable to
certain benefits paid by the Employees Retirement System of Texas.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter G, Chapter 814, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 814.605 to read as follows:
Sec. 814.605. COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENT FOR CERTAIN
ANNUITANTS: JANUARY 2026. (a) The amount of a death benefit paid
under this chapter to an annuitant based on service credited in the
employee class is increased to include a cost-of-living adjustment
in accordance with this section.
(b) Subject to Subsections (c) and (d), to be eligible for
the adjustment:
(1) a person must be:
(A) for the month of December 2025, an annuitant
eligible to receive a death benefit annuity payment under Section
814.301, 814.302, or 814.305; and
(B) the surviving spouse or the guardian of the
surviving minor children of the deceased member on whose service
the annuity is based; and
(2) the deceased member described by Subdivision
(1)(B) must have been employed by the state as a law enforcement
officer at the time of the member's death which must have been an
occupational death, as determined by the executive director.
(c) The adjustment does not apply to benefit payments based
on service credited in the elected class.
(d) To be eligible for the adjustment under this section:
(1) the annuitant described by Subsection (b) must be
living on the effective date of the adjustment; and
(2) the date of death of the member of the retirement
system on whose service the annuity is based must have been before
September 1, 2025.
(e) An adjustment under this section must be made beginning
with an annuity payable for the month of January 2026.
(f) The amount of the adjustment provided under this section
is computed by multiplying the amount of the monthly benefit
subject to the adjustment by the following percentage rate, as
applicable:
(1) if the date of the death of the member of the
retirement system on whose service the annuity is based was on or
before August 31, 2014, seven percent; and
(2) if the date of the death of the member of the
retirement system on whose service the annuity is based was after
August 31, 2014, four percent.
(g) The board of trustees shall recompute the amount of a
death benefit annuity paid monthly under this chapter by applying
the adjustment required under Subsection (f) to the monthly amount
otherwise required to be paid. The adjustment under this section is
in addition to the adjustment, if any, granted under Section
814.604 or any other law.
(h) The board of trustees shall determine the eligibility
for and the amount of any adjustment in monthly annuities in
accordance with this section.
SECTION 2. Section 814.605, Government Code, as added by
this Act, applies only to a monthly benefit payment made by the
Employees Retirement System of Texas on or after January 1, 2026.
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 September 1, 2025.