Bill Text: TX HB260 | 2017 | 85th Legislature 1st Special Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to a cost-of-living increase applicable to benefits paid by the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-08-09 - Left pending in committee [HB260 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-HB260-Introduced.html
85S10937 LED-D | ||
By: Martinez | H.B. No. 260 |
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relating to a cost-of-living increase applicable to benefits paid | ||
by the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Subchapter H, Chapter 824, Government Code, is | ||
amended by adding Section 824.703 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 824.703. ADJUSTMENT FOR COST OF LIVING; ANNUAL | ||
DETERMINATION. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, the amount of a | ||
service retirement benefit, disability retirement benefit, or | ||
death benefit paid under this chapter is adjusted in accordance | ||
with this section as necessary to reflect inflation. | ||
(b) Each year, during the last seven days of October, the | ||
board of trustees shall set the rate of the adjustment for the next | ||
calendar year to equal the percentage increase, if any, in the | ||
Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers | ||
(CPI-W) most recently published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics | ||
of the United States Department of Labor and used by the United | ||
States Social Security Administration to provide a cost-of-living | ||
adjustment for social security benefit payments payable beginning | ||
in January of the next year. | ||
(c) The board of trustees shall recompute the amount of a | ||
benefit paid under this chapter by applying the adjustment computed | ||
under Subsection (b) to the amount otherwise required to be paid as | ||
determined in accordance with the other applicable provisions of | ||
this chapter. | ||
(d) The board of trustees may not pay a benefit increase | ||
under this section in any calendar year unless the board finds that | ||
the retirement system is actuarially sound and has money available | ||
to pay increased benefits in that year. If the board of trustees | ||
finds that the retirement system is actuarially sound but that the | ||
amount of money available is not sufficient to pay the full amount | ||
of the adjustment under Subsection (b), the board shall compute the | ||
largest rate of adjustment possible for the amount of money | ||
available while maintaining the actuarial soundness of the system | ||
and shall use that rate in recomputing the benefit amount under | ||
Subsection (c) for that calendar year. | ||
SECTION 2. This Act applies only to a benefit paid by the | ||
Teacher Retirement System of Texas on or after January 1, 2018. | ||
SECTION 3. Notwithstanding Section 824.703(b), Government | ||
Code, as added by this Act, for the 2018 calendar year, the board of | ||
trustees of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas shall set the | ||
rate of the adjustment to be applied to the amount of a service | ||
retirement benefit, disability retirement benefit, or death | ||
benefit in the manner provided by Section 824.703, Government Code, | ||
as added by this Act, not later than December 8, 2017. | ||
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 on the 91st day after the last day of the | ||
legislative session. |