Bill Text: TX HB1273 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the effect of certain felony convictions of public elected officers.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-02-23 - Referred to General Investigating & Ethics [HB1273 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-HB1273-Introduced.html
85R8106 ATP-F | ||
By: Geren | H.B. No. 1273 |
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relating to the effect of certain felony convictions of public | ||
elected officers. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Chapter 810, Government Code, is amended by | ||
adding Section 810.002 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 810.002. CERTAIN ELECTED OFFICIALS INELIGIBLE FOR | ||
RETIREMENT ANNUITY. (a) In this section: | ||
(1) "Governing body of a public retirement system" and | ||
"public retirement system" have the meanings assigned by Section | ||
802.001. | ||
(2) "Qualifying felony" means any felony involving: | ||
(A) bribery; | ||
(B) the embezzlement, extortion, or other theft | ||
of public money; | ||
(C) perjury; | ||
(D) coercion of public servant or voter; | ||
(E) tampering with governmental record; | ||
(F) misuse of official information; | ||
(G) conspiracy or the attempt to commit any of | ||
the offenses described by Paragraphs (A)-(F); or | ||
(H) abuse of official capacity. | ||
(b) This section applies only to a person who is: | ||
(1) a member of the elected class of the Employees | ||
Retirement System of Texas as described by Section 812.002(a)(1) or | ||
(2); or | ||
(2) otherwise eligible for membership in a public | ||
retirement system wholly or partly because the person held an | ||
elected office. | ||
(c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), a member of a | ||
public retirement system is not eligible to receive a service | ||
retirement annuity under the retirement system if the member is | ||
convicted of a qualifying felony committed while in office and | ||
arising directly from the official duties of that elected office. | ||
(d) The retirement system shall suspend payments of an | ||
annuity to a person ineligible to receive the annuity under | ||
Subsection (c). A person whose conviction is overturned on appeal | ||
or who meets the requirements for innocence under Section | ||
103.001(a)(2), Civil Practice and Remedies Code: | ||
(1) is entitled to receive an amount equal to the | ||
accrued total of payments and interest earned on the payments | ||
withheld during the suspension period; and | ||
(2) may resume receipt of annuity payments on payment | ||
to the retirement system of an amount equal to the contributions | ||
refunded to the person under Subsection (e). | ||
(e) A member who is ineligible to receive a service | ||
retirement annuity under Subsection (c) is entitled to a refund of | ||
the member's service retirement annuity contributions, including | ||
interest earned on those contributions. | ||
(f) Benefits payable to an alternate payee under Chapter 804 | ||
who is recognized by a domestic relations order established before | ||
January 8, 2019, are not affected by a member's ineligibility to | ||
receive a service retirement annuity under Subsection (c). | ||
(g) On conviction of a member for a qualifying felony, a | ||
court may, in the interest of justice and in the same manner as in a | ||
divorce proceeding, award half of the service retirement annuity | ||
forfeited by the member as the separate property of an innocent | ||
spouse if the annuity is partitioned or exchanged by written | ||
agreement of the spouses as provided by Subchapter B, Chapter 4, | ||
Family Code. The amount awarded to the innocent spouse may not be | ||
converted to community property. | ||
(h) Ineligibility for a service retirement annuity under | ||
this section does not impair a person's right to any other | ||
retirement benefit for which the person is eligible. | ||
(i) The governing body of a public retirement system shall | ||
adopt rules and procedures to implement this section. | ||
SECTION 2. Chapter 601, Government Code, is amended by | ||
adding Section 601.011 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 601.011. VACANCY ON FINAL FELONY CONVICTION OF MEMBER | ||
OF LEGISLATURE, GOVERNOR, OR STATE ELECTED OFFICIAL. A member of | ||
the legislature, the governor, or a state elected official | ||
convicted of a felony vacates the member's, governor's, or | ||
official's office on the date the conviction becomes final. | ||
SECTION 3. Section 810.002, Government Code, as added by | ||
this Act, applies only to a member of a public retirement system who | ||
holds or has held elected office and, on or after the effective date | ||
of this Act, commits an offense that is a qualifying felony as | ||
defined by that section. A person who commits a qualifying felony | ||
before the effective date of this Act is subject to the law in | ||
effect on the date the offense was committed, and the former law is | ||
continued in effect for that purpose. For purposes of this section, | ||
an offense was committed before the effective date of this Act if | ||
any element of the offense occurred before that date. | ||
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect January 8, 2019. |