Parker’s bill raising death benefits for fallen officers’ survivors

The text as introduced · 554 words

89R10584 RDR-D

By: Parker
S.B. No. 1892

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to providing a cost-of-living adjustment applicable to

certain benefits paid by the Employees Retirement System of Texas.

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

SECTION 1. Subchapter G, Chapter 814, Government Code, is

amended by adding Section 814.605 to read as follows:

Sec. 814.605. COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENT FOR CERTAIN

ANNUITANTS: JANUARY 2026. (a) The amount of a death benefit paid

under this chapter to an annuitant based on service credited in the

employee class is increased to include a cost-of-living adjustment

in accordance with this section.

(b) Subject to Subsections (c) and (d), to be eligible for

the adjustment:

(1) a person must be:

(A) for the month of December 2025, an annuitant

eligible to receive a death benefit annuity payment under Section

814.301, 814.302, or 814.305; and

(B) the surviving spouse or the guardian of the

surviving minor children of the deceased member on whose service

the annuity is based; and

(2) the deceased member described by Subdivision

(1)(B) must have been employed by the state as a law enforcement

officer at the time of the member's death which must have been an

occupational death, as determined by the executive director.

(c) The adjustment does not apply to benefit payments based

on service credited in the elected class.

(d) To be eligible for the adjustment under this section:

(1) the annuitant described by Subsection (b) must be

living on the effective date of the adjustment; and

(2) the date of death of the member of the retirement

system on whose service the annuity is based must have been before

September 1, 2025.

(e) An adjustment under this section must be made beginning

with an annuity payable for the month of January 2026.

(f) The amount of the adjustment provided under this section

is computed by multiplying the amount of the monthly benefit

subject to the adjustment by the following percentage rate, as

applicable:

(1) if the date of the death of the member of the

retirement system on whose service the annuity is based was on or

before August 31, 2014, seven percent; and

(2) if the date of the death of the member of the

retirement system on whose service the annuity is based was after

August 31, 2014, four percent.

(g) The board of trustees shall recompute the amount of a

death benefit annuity paid monthly under this chapter by applying

the adjustment required under Subsection (f) to the monthly amount

otherwise required to be paid. The adjustment under this section is

in addition to the adjustment, if any, granted under Section

814.604 or any other law.

(h) The board of trustees shall determine the eligibility

for and the amount of any adjustment in monthly annuities in

accordance with this section.

SECTION 2. Section 814.605, Government Code, as added by

this Act, applies only to a monthly benefit payment made by the

Employees Retirement System of Texas on or after January 1, 2026.

SECTION 3. 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, 2025.