84R769 SGA-F
	By: Sheets, Fallon	H.B. No. 681

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to the eligibility for service retirement annuities of
	certain persons, including elected officials convicted of certain
	crimes.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 814, Government Code, is
	amended by adding Section 814.1021 to read as follows:
	Sec. 814.1021.  CERTAIN ELECTED MEMBERS INELIGIBLE FOR
	RETIREMENT ANNUITY. (a)  In this section, "qualifying felony"
	means any felony involving:
	(1)  bribery;
	(2)  the embezzlement, extortion, or other theft of
	public money;
	(3)  perjury; or
	(4)  conspiracy or the attempt to commit any of the
	above crimes.
	(b)  This section applies only to a member of the elected
	class of the retirement system as described by Section
	812.002(a)(1) or (2).
	(c)  Except as provided by Subsection (d), a member is not
	eligible to receive a service retirement annuity for service credit
	in the elected class under the retirement system if the member is
	convicted of a qualifying felony committed while in office and
	arising directly from the official duties of that elected office.
	(d)  The retirement system shall suspend payments of an
	annuity to a person ineligible to receive the annuity under
	Subsection (c).  A person whose conviction is overturned on appeal
	or who meets the requirements for innocence under Section
	103.001(a)(2), Civil Practice and Remedies Code:
	(1)  is entitled to receive an amount equal to the
	accrued total of payments and interest earned on the payments
	withheld during the suspension period; and
	(2)  may resume receipt of annuity payments on payment
	to the retirement system of an amount equal to the contributions
	refunded to the person under Subsection (e).
	(e)  A member who is not eligible to receive a service
	retirement annuity under Subsection (c) is entitled to a refund of
	the member's retirement annuity contributions, including interest
	earned on those contributions.
	(f)  Benefits payable to an alternate payee under Chapter 804
	who is recognized by a domestic relations order established before
	September 1, 2015, are not affected by a member's ineligibility to
	receive a retirement annuity under Subsection (c).
	(g)  On conviction of a member for a qualifying felony, a
	court may, in the interest of justice and in the same manner as in a
	divorce proceeding, award half of the service retirement annuity
	forfeited by the member as the separate property of an innocent
	spouse if the annuity is partitioned or exchanged by written
	agreement of the spouses as provided by Subchapter B, Chapter 4,
	Family Code. The amount awarded to the innocent spouse may not be
	converted to community property.
	(h)  Ineligibility for a retirement annuity under this
	section does not impair a person's right to any other retirement
	benefit for which the person is eligible.
	(i)  The board of trustees of the retirement system shall
	adopt rules and procedures to implement this section.
	SECTION 2.  Article 6220, Revised Statutes, is repealed.
	SECTION 3.  (a)  Section 814.1021, Government Code, as added
	by this Act, applies only to a member of the Employees Retirement
	System of Texas who is or was a member of the state legislature or
	holds or has held a statewide elected office and, on or after the
	effective date of this Act, commits an offense that is a qualifying
	felony as defined by that section.  A person who commits a
	qualifying felony before the effective date of this Act is subject
	to the law in effect on the date the offense was committed, and the
	former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
	(b)  For purposes of this section, an offense was committed
	before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
	occurred before that date.
	SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.