Title GV, Government Code

Sec. 854.205. FIVE-YEAR VESTING. (a) This section applies to each municipality unless the municipality's governing board files with the board of trustees before December 31, 2001, an election to not provide for five-year vesting. A governing board that elects to not provide five-…

Sec. 854.301. APPLICATION FOR DISABILITY RETIREMENT ANNUITY. (a) A member may apply for a disability retirement annuity by: (1) filing an application for retirement with the board of trustees; or (2) having an application filed with the board by the member's employer or legal rep…

Sec. 854.302. ELIGIBILITY FOR DISABILITY RETIREMENT ANNUITY. (a) A member who has less than 10 years of credited service in the retirement system is eligible to retire and receive a disability retirement annuity if the member is the subject of a certification issued as provided b…

Sec. 854.303. CERTIFICATION OF DISABILITY. (a) As soon as practicable after an application for disability retirement is filed, the medical board shall evaluate the medical and other pertinent information concerning the member's application. (b) The medical board shall issue a cer…

Sec. 854.304. STANDARD DISABILITY RETIREMENT ANNUITY. (a) The standard disability retirement annuity payable under this subtitle is the sum of a member's prior service annuity and current service annuity. (b) A prior service annuity is subject to reduction as provided by Section …

Sec. 854.305. OPTIONAL DISABILITY RETIREMENT ANNUITY. (a) Instead of the standard disability retirement annuity payable under Section 854.304, a member retiring for disability may elect to receive an optional disability retirement annuity under this section. (b) An optional disab…

Sec. 854.306. MEDICAL EXAMINATION OF DISABILITY RETIREE. (a) Once each year during the first five years after a person retires for disability, and once in each three-year period after that, the board of trustees may require a disability retiree who is less than 60 years old to un…

Sec. 854.307. CERTIFICATION OF END OF DISABILITY. (a) If the medical board finds that a disability retiree is no longer mentally or physically incapacitated for the performance of duty or is able to engage in gainful occupation, it shall certify its findings and submit them to th…

Sec. 854.308. RETURN OF DISABILITY RETIREE TO ACTIVE SERVICE OR EMPLOYMENT. (a) If a retiree who is less than 60 years old and who is receiving a disability retirement annuity resumes employment with a participating municipality or otherwise becomes gainfully employed, the person…

Sec. 854.309. REFUND AT ANNUITY DISCONTINUANCE. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), if a disability retirement annuity is discontinued under Section 854.307 or the right to an annuity revoked under Section 854.306(b), the retiree is entitled to a lump-sum payment in an amou…

Sec. 854.401. ELIGIBILITY FOR SUPPLEMENTAL DISABILITY RETIREMENT ANNUITY. (a) A member as an employee of a municipal department included, as provided by Section 852.003, in the coverage of the supplemental disability benefits fund is eligible to retire and receive a supplemental …

Sec. 854.402. CERTIFICATION AND FINDING OF DISABILITY. (a) The medical board shall issue and send to the board of trustees a certification of disability for a member included in the coverage of the supplemental disability benefits fund if, after a medical examination of the membe…

Sec. 854.403. SUPPLEMENTAL DISABILITY RETIREMENT ANNUITY. (a) A supplemental disability retirement annuity payable under this subtitle is an amount that, when added to a member's standard disability retirement annuity or, if the member is eligible for service retirement, to the m…

Sec. 854.404. CONDITIONS FOR BENEFITS. (a) Supplemental disability benefits payable from the supplemental disability benefits fund cease on the death of the disability retiree and are, except as provided by this subchapter, subject to the same terms of issuance as are standard di…

Sec. 854.405. OPTIONAL OCCUPATIONAL DISABILITY BENEFITS PROGRAM. (a) This section and Sections 854.406, 854.407, 854.408, 854.409, and 854.410, providing for an occupational disability benefits program, apply to municipalities having a participation date in the retirement system …

Sec. 854.406. APPLICATION FOR OCCUPATIONAL DISABILITY BENEFITS. A member who is employed by a municipality that has adopted or is subject to the occupational disability benefits program may apply for an occupational disability retirement benefit in the same form and manner as tha…

Sec. 854.407. ELIGIBILITY FOR BENEFITS AND DETERMINATION OF DISABILITY. (a) As soon as practicable after an application for occupational disability benefits has been filed, the medical board shall evaluate the medical and other pertinent information concerning the member's applic…

Sec. 854.408. STANDARD OCCUPATIONAL DISABILITY RETIREMENT ANNUITY. (a) The standard occupational disability retirement annuity payable under this subchapter is the sum of the member's prior service annuity and current service annuity. A prior service annuity is subject to reducti…

Sec. 854.409. MEDICAL EXAMINATION OF RETIREES. (a) The retirement system may require, by written request, a disability retiree under this subchapter who is younger than 60 years of age to undergo a medical examination and provide current medical and other relevant information rea…

Sec. 854.410. OPTIONAL OCCUPATIONAL DISABILITY RETIREMENT ANNUITY. (a) Instead of the standard occupational disability retirement annuity payable under Section 854.408, a member retiring for disability may elect to receive an optional occupational disability retirement annuity un…

Sec. 854.411. RULES FOR OPTIONAL DISABILITY RETIREMENT ANNUITIES. The board of trustees may adopt rules necessary or desirable to implement this subchapter. Added by Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 991 (S.B. 1337), Sec. 16, eff. January 1, 2020. SUBCHAPTER F. DEATH BENEFITS

Sec. 854.501. RETURN OF CONTRIBUTIONS. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (c), if a member dies before retirement, a lump-sum death benefit is payable from the benefit accumulation fund in the amount of: (1) the amount credited to the member's individual account; plus (2) inter…

Sec. 854.502. REFUND OF UNRECOVERED CONTRIBUTIONS. (a) If monthly payments of any standard service retirement annuity under Section 854.103, optional service retirement annuity under Section 854.104, standard disability retirement annuity under Section 854.304, optional disabilit…

Sec. 854.503. TRUST AS BENEFICIARY. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), a member or retiree may designate a trust as beneficiary for the payment of benefits from the retirement system. If a trust is designated beneficiary, the beneficiary of the trust is considered the desi…

Sec. 854.504. PERSON CAUSING DEATH OF MEMBER OR ANNUITANT. (a) A benefit payable on the death of a member or annuitant may not be paid to a person convicted of causing that death but instead is payable to a person who would be entitled to the benefit had the convicted person pred…

Sec. 854.505. SIMULTANEOUS DEATH OF MEMBER AND BENEFICIARY. When a member or retiree and the spouse or beneficiary of the member or retiree have died within a period of less than 120 hours of each other, the member or retiree is considered to have survived the spouse or beneficia…

Sec. 854.601. COVERAGE IN SUPPLEMENTAL DEATH BENEFIT PROGRAM. (a) An employee of a participating municipality is included within the coverage of the supplemental death benefit program on the first day of the first month in which: (1) the employing municipality is participating in…

Sec. 854.602. EXTENDED SUPPLEMENTAL DEATH BENEFIT COVERAGE. (a) A member included in the coverage of the supplemental death benefit program who fails to earn compensation in a month for service to a municipality participating in the supplemental death benefits fund is eligible to…

Sec. 854.603. MEMBER SUPPLEMENTAL DEATH BENEFIT. (a) If a person included in the coverage or extended coverage of the supplemental death benefit program dies, a lump-sum supplemental death benefit is payable from the supplemental death benefits fund in an amount equal to the curr…

Sec. 854.604. RETIREE SUPPLEMENTAL DEATH BENEFIT. If a retiree dies whose most recent employment as a member of the retirement system was with a municipality that has elected to provide, and continues to provide, postretirement supplemental death benefits, a lump-sum supplemental…

Sec. 854.605. BENEFICIARY OF SUPPLEMENTAL DEATH BENEFIT. (a) Unless a member has directed otherwise on a form prescribed by the board of trustees and filed with the retirement system: (1) a supplemental death benefit under Section 854.603 is payable to the person entitled to rece…

Sec. 855.001. COMPOSITION OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES. The board of trustees is composed of six trustees. Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 1876, ch. 453, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1981. Renumbered from Vernon's Ann.Civ.St. Title 110B, Sec. 65.001 by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 179, Sec. 1, eff. Sept.…

Sec. 855.002. APPOINTMENT. The governor, with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint three executive trustees and three employee trustees. Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 1876, ch. 453, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1981. Renumbered from Vernon's Ann.Civ.St. Title 110B, Sec. 65.002…

Sec. 855.003. ELIGIBILITY. (a) To be eligible to serve as an executive trustee a person must be a chief executive officer, chief finance officer, or other officer, executive, or department head of a participating municipality. (b) To be eligible to serve as an employee trustee a …

Sec. 855.004. TERM OF OFFICE. (a) The trustees hold office for staggered terms of six years, with the terms of two trustees expiring February 1 of each odd-numbered year. (b) The governor shall fill a vacancy in the office of a trustee for the unexpired term by appointing a succe…

Sec. 855.005. OATH OF OFFICE. Before taking office as a trustee, a person shall present to the board of trustees a certified copy of an oath of office subscribed before the clerk of the municipality that the person serves. Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 1876, ch. 453, Sec. 1, eff. Sept…

Sec. 855.007. MEETINGS. (a) The board of trustees shall hold at least four meetings each year and additional meetings when called by the director. (b) Before the fifth day preceding the day of a meeting, the director shall give written notice of the meeting to each trustee unless…

Sec. 855.008. COMPENSATION; EXPENSES. Each trustee serves without compensation but is entitled to: (1) reimbursement for reasonable traveling expenses incurred in attending board meetings and authorized committee and association meetings or incurred in the performance of other of…

Sec. 855.009. VOTING. (a) Each trustee is entitled to one vote. (b) At any meeting of the board, four or more concurring votes are necessary for a decision or action by the board. Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 1876, ch. 453, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1981. Renumbered from Vernon's Ann.Civ…

Sec. 855.101. ADMINISTRATION. (a) The retirement system is a trust. (b) The board of trustees is responsible for the administration of the retirement system. Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 1876, ch. 453, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1981. Renumbered from Vernon's Ann.Civ.St. Title 110B, Sec. …

Sec. 855.102. RULEMAKING. (a) The board of trustees shall adopt rules and perform reasonable activities it finds necessary or desirable for efficient administration of the system. (b) The board may adopt and enforce rules concerning: (1) the time that a municipality electing to p…

Sec. 855.103. ADMINISTERING SYSTEM ASSETS. (a) The board of trustees may sell, assign, exchange, or trade and transfer any security in which the retirement system's assets are invested. The board may use or reinvest the proceeds as the board determines that the system's needs req…

Sec. 855.104. ACCEPTING GIFT, GRANT, OR BEQUEST. The board of trustees shall accept a gift, grant, or bequest of money or securities: (1) for the purpose designated by the grantor if the purpose provides an endowment or retirement benefits to some or all participating employees o…

Sec. 855.105. INDEBTEDNESS; PAYMENT. (a) The board of trustees may: (1) incur indebtedness; (2) on the credit of the retirement system, borrow money to pay expenses incident to the system's operation; (3) renew, extend, or refund its indebtedness; or (4) issue and sell negotiable…

Sec. 855.106. GRANTS AND PAYMENT OF BENEFITS. The board of trustees, in accordance with this subtitle, shall consider all applications for annuities and benefits and shall decide whether to grant the annuities and benefits. The board may suspend one or more payments in accordance…

Sec. 855.107. AUDIT. (a) In this section: (1) "Audit" means an internal or independent external audit authorized or required by this section or initiated or commissioned by the board of trustees or a committee of the board of trustees. The term includes a financial audit, complia…