85R8106 ATP-F
	By: Geren	H.B. No. 500

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to the effect of certain felony convictions of public
	elected officers.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Chapter 810, Government Code, is amended by
	adding Section 810.002 to read as follows:
	Sec. 810.002.  CERTAIN ELECTED OFFICIALS INELIGIBLE FOR
	RETIREMENT ANNUITY. (a)  In this section:
	(1)  "Governing body of a public retirement system" and
	"public retirement system" have the meanings assigned by Section
	802.001.
	(2)  "Qualifying felony" means any felony involving:
	(A)  bribery;
	(B)  the embezzlement, extortion, or other theft
	of public money;
	(C)  perjury;
	(D)  coercion of public servant or voter;
	(E)  tampering with governmental record;
	(F)  misuse of official information;
	(G)  conspiracy or the attempt to commit any of
	the offenses described by Paragraphs (A)-(F); or
	(H)  abuse of official capacity.
	(b)  This section applies only to a person who is:
	(1)  a member of the elected class of the Employees
	Retirement System of Texas as described by Section 812.002(a)(1) or
	(2); or
	(2)  otherwise eligible for membership in a public
	retirement system wholly or partly because the person held an
	elected office.
	(c)  Except as provided by Subsection (d), a member of a
	public retirement system is not eligible to receive a service
	retirement annuity 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 ineligible to receive a service
	retirement annuity under Subsection (c) is entitled to a refund of
	the member's service 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
	January 8, 2019, are not affected by a member's ineligibility to
	receive a service 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 service 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 governing body of a public retirement system shall
	adopt rules and procedures to implement this section.
	SECTION 2.  Chapter 601, Government Code, is amended by
	adding Section 601.011 to read as follows:
	Sec. 601.011.  VACANCY ON FINAL FELONY CONVICTION OF MEMBER
	OF LEGISLATURE, GOVERNOR, OR STATE ELECTED OFFICIAL. A member of
	the legislature, the governor, or a state elected official
	convicted of a felony vacates the member's, governor's, or
	official's office on the date the conviction becomes final.
	SECTION 3.  Section 810.002, Government Code, as added by
	this Act, applies only to a member of a public retirement system who
	holds or has held 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. 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 January 8, 2019.