2005 Texas Government Code CHAPTER 841. GENERAL PROVISIONS

GOVERNMENT CODE

SUBTITLE F. TEXAS COUNTY AND DISTRICT RETIREMENT SYSTEM

CHAPTER 841. GENERAL PROVISIONS

SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS


	§ 841.001. DEFINITIONS.  In this subtitle:                                  
		(1)  "Actuarial equivalent" means a benefit that, at 
the time it is begun, has the same present value as the benefit it 
replaces, based on seven percent annual interest and the mortality 
table published by the Conference of Actuaries in Public Practice 
and known as the UP-1984 table with an age setback of five years for 
retired or disabled annuitants and an age setback of 10 years for 
beneficiaries, with a 30-percent reserve refund assumption for the 
standard benefit.
		(2)  "Accumulated contributions" means the 
contributions, other member deposits, and interest credited to a 
member's individual account in the employees saving fund.
		(3)  "Annuity" means an amount of money payable in 
equal monthly installments at the end of each month for a period 
determined under this subtitle.
		(4)  "Beneficiary" means an individual or entity 
designated by a member or annuitant or by statute to receive a 
benefit payable under this subtitle because of the death of a member 
or an annuitant.  The term does not include an "alternate payee" as 
defined by Section 804.001.
		(5)  "Board of trustees" means the persons appointed 
under this subtitle to administer the retirement system.
		(6)  "Compensation" means the payments on which 
contributions by an employee to the retirement system are based 
that do not exceed the amount established by board rule, which may 
not exceed the limit provided by Section 401(a)(17) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. Section 417), as indexed in the 
manner provided by that section, and that are made to an employee of 
a participating subdivision by the subdivision for service, 
including nonmonetary compensation, the value of which is 
determined by the governing body of the subdivision.  The term does 
not include workers' compensation benefits received by a member 
under Section 504.011, Labor Code.
		(7)  "Credited service" means the number of months of 
prior and current service ascribed to a member in the retirement 
system.
		(8)  "Employee" means a person, other than a person 
determined by a subdivision to be a temporary employee, who is 
certified by a subdivision as being employed in, or elected or 
appointed to, a position or office in the subdivision for which the 
person is compensated by the subdivision.  The term includes a 
person described by Section 842.107 only as provided by that 
section.
		(9)  "Governing body" means the commissioners court of 
a county or, in any other subdivision, the body that is authorized 
to raise and expend revenue.
		(10)  "Initial deposit rate" means the percentage of 
the annual compensation of an employee of a participating 
subdivision that is required by the subdivision on the effective 
date of subdivision participation in the retirement system as the 
rate for employee contributions to the retirement system.
		(11)  "Local pension system" means a public retirement 
benefit program of less than statewide scope.
		(12)  "Retirement" means the withdrawal from service 
with a retirement benefit granted under this subtitle.
		(13)  "Retirement annuity" means the service, 
disability, or survivor benefit paid under this subtitle in the 
form of an annuity.
		(14)  "Retirement system" means the Texas County and 
District Retirement System.
		(15)  "Service" means the time a person is an employee.                       
		(16)  "Service credit" means the monetary credits 
allowed a member for service for a participating subdivision.
		(17)  "Subdivision" means a political subdivision of 
the state that is not eligible to participate in any other statewide 
retirement system or that is not currently participating in a 
retirement system established by the legislature.  The term 
includes the Texas Association of Counties, the Texas County and 
District Retirement System, and a city-county hospital jointly 
managed under Subchapter B, Chapter 265, Health and Safety Code.  
The term does not include a branch, division, department, employee 
classification group, or other separately identified component of a 
political subdivision.
		(18)  "Supplemental death benefit program" means the 
voluntary, employer-funded optional death benefit program 
established under Subchapter F, Chapter 844.
		(19)  "Vested member" means a member who may withdraw 
from employment with all participating subdivisions, leave the 
member's accumulated contributions on deposit with the retirement 
system, and, on meeting the age and length-of-service requirements 
for service retirement, file an application for retirement and 
begin to receive a service retirement annuity.

Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 1876, ch. 453, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1981.  
Amended by Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 63, § 1, eff. May 6, 1987;  
Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 664, § 3, eff. June 14, 1989.  
Renumbered from Vernon's Ann.Civ.St. Title 110B, § 51.001 and 
amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 179, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 
1989.  Amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 14, § 284(85), eff. 
Sept. 1, 1991;  Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 16, § 11.03(a), eff. 
Aug. 26, 1991;  Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 245, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 
1995;  Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 309, § 1, eff. Dec. 1, 1997;  
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 703, § 2, eff. June 17, 1997;  Acts 
1999, 76th Leg., ch. 427, § 1, eff. Dec. 31, 1999;  Acts 2001, 
77th Leg., ch. 122, § 1, eff. Dec. 31, 2001;  Acts 2003, 78th 
Leg., ch. 621, § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 2004;  Acts 2005, 79th Leg., ch. 
506, § 2, eff. Jan. 1, 2006.


	§ 841.002. PURPOSE OF SUBTITLE.  The purpose of this 
subtitle is to establish a program of benefits for members, 
retirees, and their beneficiaries and to establish rules for the 
management and operation of the retirement system.  The assets of 
the retirement system are held in trust for the exclusive benefit of 
the members, the retirees, and their beneficiaries and may not be 
diverted.  Forfeitures may not be applied to increase the benefits 
any person would otherwise receive under this subtitle.

Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 1876, ch. 453, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1981.  
Renumbered from Vernon's Ann.Civ.St. Title 110B, § 51.002 by 
Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 179, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.  Amended 
by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 309, § 2, eff. Dec. 1, 1997.


	§ 841.003. RETIREMENT SYSTEM.  The Texas County and 
District Retirement System is continued in existence and is the 
name by which the business of the retirement system shall be 
transacted, all its funds invested, and all its cash and other 
property held.

Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 1876, ch. 453, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1981.  
Renumbered from Vernon's Ann.Civ.St. Title 110B, § 51.003 by 
Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 179, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.


	§ 841.004. POWERS AND PRIVILEGES.  The retirement system 
has the powers, privileges, and immunities of a corporation, as 
well as the powers, privileges, and immunities conferred by this 
subtitle.

Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 1876, ch. 453, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1981.  
Renumbered from Vernon's Ann.Civ.St. Title 110B, § 51.004 by 
Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 179, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.


	§ 841.005. ACTIONS FOR ACCOUNTING.  (a) The retirement 
system or the board of trustees may initiate, or cause to be 
initiated on its behalf, an action against a participating 
subdivision, a board of the subdivision, or individual officers of 
the subdivision, to compel an accounting of sums due to the 
retirement system or to require the withholding and accounting of 
sums due from members.
	(b)  The venue of an action brought under this section is in 
either Travis County or a county in which the subdivision is 
situated.

Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 1876, ch. 453, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1981.  
Renumbered from Vernon's Ann.Civ.St. Title 110B, § 51.005 by 
Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 179, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.


	§ 841.0051. VENUE.  (a)  The venue of any action brought 
against the retirement system in a state court or before the State 
Office of Administrative Hearings is in Travis County.
	(b)  The venue of any action brought in a state court by the 
retirement system is in Travis County or in the county in which the 
defendant is situated, domiciled, or does business.

Added by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., ch. 506, § 3, eff. Jan. 1, 2006.            


	§ 841.006. EXEMPTION FROM EXECUTION.  All retirement 
annuity payments, other benefit payments, and a member's 
accumulated contributions are unassignable and are exempt from 
execution, garnishment, attachment, and state and local taxation.

Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 1876, ch. 453, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1981.  
Renumbered from Vernon's Ann.Civ.St. Title 110B, § 51.006 by 
Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 179, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.


	§ 841.007. REDUCTION OF ANNUITY PAYMENTS ON REQUEST.  (a) 
An annuitant by written request may authorize the retirement system 
to reduce the annuitant's monthly payment to an amount specified in 
the request.  In writing, the annuitant may subsequently request 
the retirement system to increase the annuitant's monthly payment 
to any specified amount that does not exceed the amount payable if a 
reduction had never been requested.
	(b)  If the retirement system receives a request under 
Subsection (a), the director may cause the monthly annuity payment 
of the requesting annuitant to be reduced or increased as specified 
in the request.
	(c)  Any amounts by which an annuity is reduced under this 
section are forfeited to the retirement system and are not 
recoverable by any person.

Added by Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 491, § 1, eff. June 12, 1985.  
Renumbered from Vernon's Ann.Civ.St. Title 110B, § 51.007 and 
amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 179, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 
1989.


	§ 841.008. APPLICATIONS BY, AND PAYMENTS TO, PERSONS 
OTHER THAN MEMBERS, BENEFICIARIES, AND ANNUITANTS.  (a) The board 
of trustees may accept an application for any benefit under this 
subtitle that is signed on behalf of a person entitled to the 
benefit by:
		(1)  an appointed guardian of the person and estate of 
the person;  or      
		(2)  an attorney in fact authorized to act on behalf of 
the person by a written power of attorney that provides that the 
power is not revoked by disability of the person, except that an 
attorney in fact who is not the person's spouse may not select a 
benefit in which the attorney in fact is a named beneficiary, unless 
the attorney in fact designates as the person's beneficiary each 
individual who would be entitled to the entire benefit if the person 
had died intestate.
	(b)  If it is made to appear to the director by affidavit of a 
licensed physician that a person entitled to a benefit is not 
mentally capable of managing the person's own affairs, and if it is 
further established to the satisfaction of the director that the 
estate of the person is insufficient to justify the expense of 
establishing a guardianship or continuing a guardianship after 
letters of guardianship have expired, the director may make payment 
of any annuity or other benefit:
		(1)  to the spouse of the person, as trustee for the 
person;  or            
		(2)  to an individual or entity actually providing for 
the needs of and caring for the person, as trustee for the person 
until current letters of guardianship are filed with the retirement 
system.
	(c)  If requested by the person entitled to the benefit or 
the guardian, attorney in fact, or trustee of the person, the 
director may, if the director determines that it is in the best 
interest of the person entitled to the benefit, make payments 
directly to the trustee of:
		(1)  a trust described by Section 867, Texas Probate 
Code, that has been created for the management of guardianship 
funds for the benefit of the person;  or
		(2)  a trust described by 42 U.S.C. Section 
1396p(d)(4)(A), (B), or (C) that has been established to qualify 
the person for benefits or other assistance under a state or federal 
program or to supplement the benefits or other assistance provided 
under the program.
	(d)  The director may require proof of facts used to 
establish a right under this section by evidence the director 
determines is satisfactory.

Added by Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 491, § 2, eff. June 12, 1985.  
Renumbered from Vernon's Ann.Civ.St. Title 110B, § 51.008 and 
amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 179, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 
1989.  Amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 122, § 2, eff. Dec. 
31, 2001.


	§ 841.009. DIVORCE-DECREE PAYMENTS PROTECTED.  The 
system and officials of the system are not liable to any person for 
making payments of any benefits in accordance with the provisions 
of a decree of divorce in a cause in which the member or annuitant 
was a party.

Added by Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 291, § 3, eff. June 12, 1985.  
Renumbered from Vernon's Ann.Civ.St. Title 110B, § 51.009 and 
amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 179, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 
1989.


	§ 841.010. DISTRIBUTION REQUIREMENTS.  (a) 
Notwithstanding any other provision of this subtitle, all 
distributions under this subtitle must be determined and made in 
accordance with Section 401(a)(9) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 (26 U.S.C. Section 401) and the regulations adopted under that 
provision, including the minimum incidental death benefit 
distribution requirement of Section 401(a)(9)(G) of that code.  The 
board of trustees may adopt rules relating to the selection, 
payment, and distribution of benefits to ensure compliance with 
federal statutes and regulations.
	(b)  The entire vested interest of a participant must be 
distributed or begin to be distributed not later than the required 
beginning date as determined in accordance with Section 401(a)(9) 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and the regulations adopted 
under that provision. If the participant dies after distribution of 
the participant's interest has begun, the remaining portion of the 
interest will continue to be distributed at least as rapidly as the 
method of distribution being used before the participant's death.  
If the participant dies before distribution of the participant's 
interest begins, distribution of the participant's entire interest 
must be made in a manner complying with Section 401(a)(9)(B) of the 
code.

Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 309, § 3, eff. Dec. 1, 1997.  
Amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 122, § 3, eff. Dec. 31, 
2001;  Acts 2005, 79th Leg., ch. 506, § 4, eff. Jan. 1, 2006.


	§ 841.011. FULL VESTING OF ACCRUED BENEFITS AT 
TERMINATION.  If the retirement system is terminated or if there is 
a complete discontinuance of contributions to the retirement 
system, each member will become fully vested in that member's 
accrued benefit to the extent funded as of the date of termination 
or contribution discontinuance.

Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 309, § 3, eff. Dec. 1, 1997.            

SUBCHAPTER B. PENAL PROVISIONS


	§ 841.101. OFFENSES;  PENALTY.  (a) A person commits an 
offense if the person knowingly makes a false statement in a report 
or application to the retirement system in an attempt to defraud the 
retirement system.
	(b)  A person commits an offense if the person knowingly 
makes a false certificate of an official report to the retirement 
system.
	(c)  A person commits an offense if the person knowingly 
fails to return money received from the retirement system to which 
the person is not entitled.
	(d)  An offense under this section is a misdemeanor 
punishable by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000, by 
confinement in jail for not less than 30 days nor more than one 
year, or both.

Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 1876, ch. 453, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1981.  
Renumbered from Vernon's Ann.Civ.St. Title 110B, § 51.101 by 
Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 179, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.  Amended 
by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 122, § 4, eff. Dec. 31, 2001.