Hinojosa’s bill counts juvenile justice staff as custodial officers

The text as introduced · 1,073 words

89R1444 RDR-D

By: Hinojosa of Nueces
S.B. No. 1115

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to eligibility for custodial officer service in the

Employees Retirement System of Texas by certain juvenile

correctional officers and caseworkers employed by the Texas

Juvenile Justice Department.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 811.001, Government Code, is amended by

amending Subdivision (8) and adding Subdivision (8-b) to read as

follows:

(8) "Custodial officer" :

(A) means a member of the retirement system who

is employed :

(i) by the Board of Pardons and Paroles or

the Texas Department of Criminal Justice as a parole officer or

caseworker ;

(ii) by the Texas Juvenile Justice

Department as a juvenile correctional officer or caseworker; or

(iii) [ who is employed ] by the correctional

institutions division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice

and certified by the department as having a normal job assignment

that requires frequent or infrequent regularly planned contact

with, and [ in ] close proximity to, inmates or defendants of the

correctional institutions division without the protection of bars,

doors, security screens, or similar devices and includes

assignments normally involving supervision or the potential for

supervision of inmates in inmate housing areas, educational or

recreational facilities, industrial shops, kitchens, laundries,

medical areas, agricultural shops or fields, or in other areas on or

away from property of the department ; and

(B) [ . The term ] includes a member who transfers

from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to the managed health

care unit of The University of Texas Medical Branch or the Texas

Tech University Health Sciences Center pursuant to Section 9.01,

Chapter 238, Acts of the 73rd Legislature, 1993, elects at the time

of transfer to retain membership in the retirement system, and is

certified by the managed health care unit or the health sciences

center as having a normal job assignment described by Paragraph

(A)(iii) [ this subdivision ].

(8-b) "Juvenile correctional officer" has the meaning

assigned by Section 242.009, Human Resources Code.

SECTION 2. Section 813.506, Government Code, is amended by

adding Subsection (b-1) and amending Subsection (c) to read as

follows:

(b-1) To be creditable as custodial officer service under

the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, service must be performed as

a juvenile correctional officer or caseworker.

(c) The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the managed

health care unit of The University of Texas Medical Branch or the

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, the Texas Juvenile

Justice Department, or the Board of Pardons and Paroles, as

applicable, shall determine a person's eligibility to receive

credit as a custodial officer. A determination under this

subsection [ of the department, unit, or board ] may not be appealed

by an employee but is subject to change by the retirement system.

SECTION 3. Section 815.505, Government Code, is amended to

read as follows:

Sec. 815.505. CERTIFICATION OF NAMES OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND

CUSTODIAL OFFICERS. Not later than the 12th day of the month

following the month in which a person begins or ceases employment as

a law enforcement officer or custodial officer, the Public Safety

Commission, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, the Parks and

Wildlife Commission, the office of inspector general at the Texas

Juvenile Justice Department, the Texas Juvenile Justice

Department, the Board of Pardons and Paroles, or the Texas Board of

Criminal Justice, as applicable, shall certify to the retirement

system, in the manner prescribed by the system, the name of the

employee and such other information as the system determines is

necessary for the crediting of service and financing of benefits

under this subtitle.

SECTION 4. (a) The changes in law made by this Act apply:

(1) to a member of the Employees Retirement System of

Texas who is employed by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department as a

juvenile correctional officer or caseworker on or after the

effective date of this Act regardless of whether the member was

hired by the department before, on, or after the effective date of

this Act; and

(2) except as provided by Subsection (b) of this

section, only to service credit that is established on or after the

effective date of this Act.

(b) Service credit established by a member who is employed

by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department as a juvenile correctional

officer or caseworker and who is not subject to Chapter 820,

Government Code, that was earned by the member in the position of a

juvenile correctional officer or caseworker before the effective

date of this Act, is considered service credit established as a

custodial officer for purposes of determining the benefits payable

from the law enforcement and custodial officer supplemental

retirement fund.

(c) Notwithstanding Subsection (b) of this section, a

member subject to that subsection may not receive benefits payable

from the law enforcement and custodial officer supplemental

retirement fund based on the service credit described by that

subsection if the member retires before September 1, 2027.

(d) As soon as practicable after the effective date of this

Act, the board of trustees of the Employees Retirement System of

Texas, in consultation with the Texas Juvenile Justice Department,

shall adopt rules necessary to implement the changes in law made by

this Act.

(e) The Texas Juvenile Justice Department shall:

(1) as soon as practicable after the effective date of

this Act, certify to the Employees Retirement System of Texas, in

the form and manner prescribed by the board of trustees of the

retirement system:

(A) the name of each member who is employed by the

department as a juvenile correctional officer or caseworker on the

effective date of this Act;

(B) if the member is subject to Subsection (b) of

this section, the amount of service credit established by the

member as a juvenile correctional officer or caseworker before the

effective date of this Act; and

(C) any other information the retirement system

determines is necessary to credit custodial officer service in

accordance with the changes in law made by this Act; and

(2) beginning with the first pay period that occurs

after the effective date of this Act and with respect to each member

employed by the department as a juvenile correctional officer or

caseworker, begin making deductions and collecting contributions

for the law enforcement and custodial officer supplemental

retirement fund as prescribed by Section 815.402(h) or 820.101(b),

Government Code, as applicable.

SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.