HBA-GUM H.B. 3486 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3486
By: Dunnam
Pensions & Investments
3/25/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, Texas does not offer private school teachers incentives to
transfer to the public school system. Accordingly, it is rare for a private
school teacher to transfer to the public school system. H.B. 3486 provides
an incentive for private school educators to join the public school system
by allowing them to collect service credit in the Teacher Retirement
System. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Subchapter E, Chapter 823, Government Code, by adding
Section 823.404, as follows: 

Sec.  823.404.  SERVICE FOR PRIVATE SCHOOL OR INSTITUTION OF HIGHER
EDUCATION.  (a)  Defines "accredited private institution of higher
education" and "accredited private school." 

(b)  Authorizes an eligible member of the Teacher Retirement System
(member, TRS) to establish equivalent membership service credit for
employment with an accredited private school or institution of higher
education. 

(c)  Requires a member to have at least 10 years of service credit in the
retirement system for actual service in public schools to become eligible
to establish credit under this section, and that at least one of the 10
years of service credit be for service performed after the service for
which credit is sought. 

(d)  Authorizes a member to establish credit by depositing with TRS for
each year of service claimed a contribution, determined as provided by
Section 822.201(Member Compensation), during the first year of service for
which the member received membership credit in the retirement system that
is after the service for which credit is sought. 

(e)  Provides that a member claiming credit under this section must pay a
fee of eight percent, compounded annually, of the required contribution
from the date of first eligibility to the date of deposit.  Requires the
deposit for at least one year of credit to be made with an initial
application for credit.  Requires payments for service claimed under this
section to be made before retirement. 

(f)  Prohibits a member from establishing service credit for more than 10
years. 

(g)  Requires TRS, once a member has made the deposits, to grant the member
one year of membership service credit for each year of service approved.
Prohibits TRS from using service credit granted under this section in
computing a member's annual average compensation. 
 
(h)  Requires TRS, in determining the contribution under Subsection (d) of
non full-time members, to compute an annual rate of compensation from the
member's reported compensation. 

SECTION 2.  Effective date: September 1, 1999.

SECTION 3.  Emergency clause.