Bill Text: TX HB3156 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to annuity payments to surviving spouses and designated beneficiaries of persons wrongfully imprisoned.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-03-23 - Referred to Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence [HB3156 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-HB3156-Introduced.html

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84R11222 LED-F
By: Simmons H.B. No. 3156

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to annuity payments to surviving spouses and designated
beneficiaries of persons wrongfully imprisoned.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 103.053, Civil Practice and Remedies
Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 103.053. ANNUITY COMPENSATION GENERALLY; STANDARD
ANNUITY PAYMENTS. (a) A person entitled to compensation under
Section 103.001(a) is entitled to standard annuity payments under
this section unless the person elects to receive alternative
annuity payments under Section 103.0535.
(a-1) Standard annuity payments are[,] based on a present
value sum equal to the amount to which the person is entitled under
Sections 103.052(a)(1) and (b).
(b) Standard [The] annuity payments [under this section]
are payable in equal monthly installments for the life of the
claimant.
(c) Annuity payments under this chapter [and] must be based
on a five percent per annum interest rate and other actuarial
factors within the discretion of the comptroller. Annuity
[(c) The annuity] payments under this chapter may not be
accelerated, deferred, increased, or decreased. A person entitled
to annuity payments under this chapter, including a claimant's
spouse or designated beneficiary entitled to payments under Section
103.0535, [The applicant] may not sell, mortgage or otherwise
encumber, or anticipate the payments, wholly or partly, by
assignment or otherwise.
SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 103, Civil Practice and
Remedies Code, is amended by adding Sections 103.0535 and 103.0536
to read as follows:
Sec. 103.0535. ALTERNATIVE ANNUITY COMPENSATION. (a) A
person entitled to compensation under Section 103.001(a) may elect
to receive reduced alternative annuity payments under this section
instead of standard annuity payments.
(b) Alternative annuity payments are payable throughout the
life of the claimant and are actuarially reduced from the standard
annuity payments to their actuarial equivalent under the option
selected under Subsection (c).
(c) A claimant may select one of the following options,
which provide that:
(1) after the claimant's death, the alternative
annuity payments are payable to and throughout the life of the
claimant's spouse;
(2) after the claimant's death, three-fourths of the
initial alternative annuity payment amount is payable to and
throughout the life of the claimant's spouse;
(3) after the claimant's death, one-half of the
initial alternative annuity payment amount is payable to and
throughout the life of the claimant's spouse;
(4) if the claimant dies before 180 monthly
alternative annuity payments have been made, the remainder of the
180 payments are payable to the claimant's spouse or designated
beneficiary; or
(5) if the claimant dies before 120 monthly
alternative annuity payments have been made, the remainder of the
120 payments are payable to the claimant's spouse or designated
beneficiary.
(d) An election under this section must be made not later
than the 45th day after the date on which the claimant files with
the comptroller the application required by Section 103.051 on a
form prescribed by the comptroller that:
(1) identifies the claimant's spouse or designated
beneficiary according to Section 103.0536; and
(2) specifies the option selected under Subsection
(c).
(e) Subsection (f) applies to a claimant who:
(1) became entitled to compensation under Section
103.001(a) on or after September 1, 1997;
(2) elects to receive alternative annuity payments
under this section that are payable to the claimant and the
claimant's spouse; and
(3) survives the claimant's spouse.
(f) A claimant described by Subsection (e) is entitled to an
increase in the amount of the claimant's monthly annuity payments
so that the claimant's monthly payments equal the monthly payments
the claimant would have received had the claimant not elected to
receive the alternative annuity payments. The claimant is entitled
to the increased payments beginning the month after the month in
which the claimant's spouse dies and ending on the date of the
claimant's death.
Sec. 103.0536. DESIGNATED BENEFICIARY. (a) A claimant who
selects a designated beneficiary to receive the remainder of the
alternative annuity payments payable under Section 103.0535(c)(4)
or (5) may designate:
(1) one designated beneficiary to receive the
remainder of the annuity payments;
(2) two or more designated beneficiaries to receive
the remainder of the annuity payments in equal amounts; or
(3) a primary designated beneficiary to receive the
remainder of the annuity payments and an additional beneficiary.
(b) If a designated beneficiary designated under Subsection
(a)(2) dies before the remainder of the annuity payments are paid,
the comptroller shall recalculate the payments so that the
remaining designated beneficiaries receive the remainder of the
annuity payments in equal amounts.
(c) An additional beneficiary designated under Subsection
(a)(3) takes the place of the primary beneficiary if the primary
beneficiary dies before the remainder of the annuity payments are
paid. A claimant may select not more than four additional
beneficiaries and shall determine the order in which the additional
beneficiaries are to succeed the primary beneficiary. The remainder
of the annuity payments under this subsection are paid to one
beneficiary at a time until the beneficiary dies or the remaining
annuity payments are paid. If each additional beneficiary dies
before the remainder of the annuity payments are paid, the
remainder of the annuity payments are payable to the claimant's
estate.
(d) A designated beneficiary under this section must be a
dependent of the claimant.
SECTION 3. Section 103.151(b), Civil Practice and Remedies
Code, is amended to read as follows:
(b) The comptroller shall begin making annuity payments [to
a claimant] under Section 103.053(a) or 103.0535 on the first
anniversary of the date of payment of the compensation due under
Section 103.052.
SECTION 4. Sections 103.154(a) and (b), Civil Practice and
Remedies Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (c), compensation
payments [to a person] under this chapter terminate if, after the
date the claimant [person] becomes eligible for compensation under
Section 103.001, the claimant [person] is convicted of a crime
punishable as a felony. Annuity payments to a claimant's spouse or
designated beneficiary under this chapter terminate if, after the
date the spouse or designated beneficiary begins receiving annuity
payments, the spouse or designated beneficiary is convicted of a
crime punishable as a felony. Payments [Compensation payments]
terminate under this subsection on the date of the felony
[subsequent] conviction. If annuity payments to a designated
beneficiary are terminated under this subsection, the remainder of
the annuity payments are payable under Section 103.0536 as if the
beneficiary died on the date of termination.
(b) Except as provided by Sections 103.0535 and 103.0536:
(1) annuity [Annuity] payments to a person under this
chapter [Section 103.151(b)] terminate on the date of the person's
death; and
(2) [. Any] payments scheduled to be paid after that
date are credited to the state and may not be paid to any other
person, including the person's surviving spouse, heirs, devisees,
or beneficiaries under the person's will, or to the person's estate.
SECTION 5. (a) Not later than December 1, 2015, the
comptroller shall develop and make available the form described by
Section 103.0535(d), Civil Practice and Remedies Code, as added by
this Act.
(b) A person entitled to compensation under Section
103.001(a), Civil Practice and Remedies Code, who started receiving
annuity payments before the effective date of this Act may elect to
receive any remaining payments as alternative annuity payments
under Section 103.0535, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, as added
by this Act, by filing the form described by Section 103.0535(d),
Civil Practice and Remedies Code, as added by this Act, with the
comptroller not later than the 45th day after the date the
comptroller makes the form available. The value of alternative
annuity payments elected under this section must be actuarially
equivalent to the remaining value of the annuity payments the
person would receive absent the election.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.