| Vote Recommendation | Economic Freedom | Property Rights | Personal Responsibility | Limited Government | Individual Liberty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | Neutral | Neutral | Positive | Positive | Neutral |
This bill would add a chapter to the code related to the
benefits from the public retirement system of Texas. If this bill passes, a
list of “qualifying felony” offenses would be added to a chapter and if a
person is convicted of one of those offenses, and if the victim is a student,
the person would not be eligible to receive a service annuity from the
retirement system. The qualifying felonies pertain to crimes such as
kidnapping, indecency with a child, improper relationship between an educator
and student, and other serious crimes that contain elements that are substantially
similar. A person who is not eligible to receive the benefits would be entitled
to a refund of the person’s retirement annuity contributions including
interest. Additionally, if a person’s conviction is overturned they may resume the
annuity payments and would be entitled to an amount equal to the accrued total of
payments and interest earned during the suspension. This would apply to a
person who is a member of the retirement system and is or was an employee of
Texas Juvenile Justice Department in one of their institutional schools.
This bill would add this list of qualifying felonies to the portion of the code
related to the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. This section would apply to
any person who is a member of the retirement system and is or was an employee
of the public school system.
Finally, this bill would create a finding of fact regarding an offense related
to performance of public service. If a judge determines that the offense
committed was related to the defendant’s employment under one of these
chapters, the judge would be required to enter an affirmative finding of fact,
and to enter it into the judgement, and it would be reported to the retirement
system.