Bill Text: TX HB1698 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced


Bill Title: Relating to the nonconfidential status of certain state pension information.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-03-12 - Referred to Pensions [HB1698 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-HB1698-Introduced.html
  84R191 SGA-D
 
  By: Capriglione H.B. No. 1698
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the nonconfidential status of certain state pension
  information.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 552.0038, Government Code, is amended by
  amending Subsections (c), (h), and (i) and adding Subsection (h-1)
  to read as follows:
         (c)  Except as provided by Subsection (h-1), records
  [Records] of individual members, annuitants, retirees,
  beneficiaries, alternate payees, program participants, or persons
  eligible for benefits from a retirement system under a retirement
  plan or program administered by the retirement system that are in
  the custody of the system or in the custody of an administering
  firm, a carrier, or another governmental agency, including the
  comptroller, acting in cooperation with or on behalf of the
  retirement system are confidential and not subject to public
  disclosure.  The retirement system, administering firm, carrier, or
  governmental agency is not required to accept or comply with a
  request for a record or information about a record or to seek an
  opinion from the attorney general because the records are exempt
  from the provisions of this chapter, except as otherwise provided
  by this section.
         (h)  Except as provided by Subsection (h-1), the [The]
  retirement system has sole discretion in determining whether a
  record is subject to this section.  For purposes of this section, a
  record includes any identifying information about a person, living
  or deceased, who is or was a member, annuitant, retiree,
  beneficiary, alternate payee, program participant, or person
  eligible for benefits from the retirement system under any
  retirement plan or program administered by the retirement system.
         (h-1)  This subsection applies only to a person who is or was
  a member of the legislature and receives a service retirement
  annuity from the Employees Retirement System of Texas.  For a person
  to whom this subsection applies, the Employees Retirement System of
  Texas may not withhold as confidential the person's name or the
  amount of the person's annuity.
         (i)  Except as provided by Subsection (h-1), to [To] the
  extent of a conflict between this section and any other law with
  respect to the confidential information held by a public retirement
  system or other entity described by Subsection (c) concerning an
  individual member, annuitant, retiree, beneficiary, alternate
  payee, program participant, or person eligible for benefits from
  the retirement system, the prevailing provision is the provision
  that provides the greater substantive and procedural protection for
  the privacy of information concerning that individual member,
  annuitant, retiree, beneficiary, alternate payee, program
  participant, or person eligible for benefits.
         SECTION 2.  Sections 815.503(a) and (e), Government Code,
  are amended to read as follows:
         (a)  Except as provided by Section 552.0038(h-1), records
  [Records] of members, annuitants, retirees, beneficiaries, and
  alternate payees under retirement plans administered by the
  retirement system that are in the custody of the system or of an
  administering firm, carrier, or other governmental agency acting in
  cooperation with or on behalf of the retirement system are
  confidential and not subject to public disclosure, and the
  retirement system, administering firm, carrier, or governmental
  agency is not required to accept or comply with a request for a
  record or information about a record or to seek an opinion from the
  attorney general, because the records are exempt from the
  provisions of Chapter 552, except as otherwise provided by this
  section.
         (e)  Except as provided by Section 552.0038(h-1), the [The]
  retirement system has sole discretion in determining if a record is
  subject to this section.  For purposes of this section, a record
  includes any identifying information about a person, living or
  deceased, who is or was a member, annuitant, retiree, beneficiary,
  or alternate payee, under any retirement plan or program
  administered by the retirement system.
         SECTION 3.  Section 552.0038(h-1), Government Code, as added
  by this Act, applies only to a request for information received by
  the Employees Retirement System of Texas on or after the effective
  date of this Act. A request for information received before that
  date is governed by the law in effect on the date the request is
  received, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 4.  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, 2015.
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