GOVERNMENT CODE

TITLE 8. PUBLIC RETIREMENT SYSTEMS

SUBTITLE B. EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM OF TEXAS

CHAPTER 811. GENERAL PROVISIONS

SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS

Sec. 811.001.  DEFINITIONS.  In this subtitle:
(1)  "Accumulated contributions" means the total of amounts in a member's individual account in the employees saving account, including:
(A)  amounts deducted from the compensation of the member;
(B)  other member deposits required to be placed in the member's individual account;  and
(C)  interest credited to amounts in the member's individual account.
(2)  "Actuarially reduced annuity" means an annuity payable on retirement or death occurring before a normal retirement age, the amount of which is determined by computing, using the amount of the member's service credit, the standard service retirement annuity payable at a normal retirement age and reducing it, under tables adopted by the board, by the factor applicable because of the attained age of the member.
(3)  "Annuity" means an amount of money payable in monthly installments for a guaranteed period or for life, as determined by this subtitle.
(4)  "Appointed officer or employee" means a person who holds a position that requires adherence to laws and rules of the state applicable to its employees, and who is paid a salary from state funds.
(5)  "Board of trustees" means the persons appointed or elected under Subchapter A of Chapter 815 to administer the retirement system.
(5-a)  "Cash balance group member" means a member subject to Chapter 820.
(6)  "Combined retirement annuity" means the amount payable on retirement for service credited as a member of the employee class of membership plus any supplemental amount payable from the law enforcement and custodial officer supplemental retirement fund.
(7)  "Compensation" means the base salary of a person;  amounts that would otherwise qualify as compensation but are not received directly by a person pursuant to a good faith, voluntary, written salary reduction agreement in order to finance payments to a deferred compensation or tax sheltered annuity program specifically authorized by state law or to finance benefit options under a cafeteria plan qualifying under Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. Section 125);  longevity and hazardous duty pay;  nonmonetary compensation, the value of which is determined by the retirement system;  amounts by which a person's salary is reduced under a salary reduction agreement authorized by Chapter 610;  and the benefit replacement pay a person earns under Subchapter H, Chapter 659, as added by Chapter 417, Acts of the 74th Legislature, 1995, except for the benefit replacement pay a person earns as a result of a payment made under Subchapter B, C, or D, Chapter 661.  The term excludes overtime pay and a cleaning or clothing allowance.
(8)  "Custodial officer" means a member of the retirement system who is employed by the Board of Pardons and Paroles or the Texas Department of Criminal Justice as a parole officer or caseworker or who is employed by the correctional institutions division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and certified by the department as having a normal job assignment that requires frequent or infrequent regularly planned contact with, and in close proximity to, inmates or defendants of the correctional institutions division without the protection of bars, doors, security screens, or similar devices and includes assignments normally involving supervision or the potential for supervision of inmates in inmate housing areas, educational or recreational facilities, industrial shops, kitchens, laundries, medical areas, agricultural shops or fields, or in other areas on or away from property of the department.  The term includes a member who transfers from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to the managed health care unit of The University of Texas Medical Branch or the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center pursuant to Section 9.01, Chapter 238, Acts of the 73rd Legislature, 1993, elects at the time of transfer to retain membership in the retirement system, and is certified by the managed health care unit or the health sciences center as having a normal job assignment described by this subdivision.
(8-a)  "Good cause" means that a person's failure to act was not because of a lack of due diligence the exercise of which would have caused a reasonable person to take prompt and timely action.  A failure to act based on ignorance of the law or facts reasonably discoverable through the exercise of due diligence does not constitute good cause.
(9)  "Law enforcement officer" means a member of the retirement system who:
(A)  has been commissioned as a law enforcement officer by the Department of Public Safety, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, the Parks and Wildlife Department, or the office of inspector general at the Texas Juvenile Justice Department; and
(B)  is recognized as a commissioned law enforcement officer by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.
(10)  "Membership service" means service in a position included in a class of membership, including service performed in the position before holders of the position were eligible or required to be members of the retirement system.
(11)  "Normal retirement age" means an age at which a member is entitled to receive a service retirement annuity without reduction because of age.
(12)  "Occupational disability" means disability from a sudden and unexpected injury or disease that results solely from a specific act or occurrence determinable by a definite time and place and solely from an extremely dangerous risk of severe physical or mental trauma or disease that is not common to the public at large and that is peculiar to and inherent in a dangerous duty that arises from the nature and in the course of a person's state employment.
(12-a)  "Occupational death" means death from an injury resulting from an external force, an activity, or a disease caused by or resulting from a line-of-duty accident or from an illness caused by line-of-duty work under hazardous conditions.  The term includes death from accidents or illnesses that directly result from an action a person is required or authorized by rule, condition of employment, or law to perform, including an action performed by the person at a social, ceremonial, athletic, or other function to which the person is assigned by the person's employer.
(13)  "Position" means an office held by an elected or appointed officer or a job or other regular employment held by an employee, which office, job, or employment is included in a class of membership.
(14)  "Retiree" means a person who, except as provided by Section 812.203, receives an annuity based on service that was credited to the person in a class of membership.
(15)  "Retirement system" means the Employees Retirement System of Texas.
(16)  "Service credit" means the amount of membership and, if applicable, military service ascribed to a person's account in the retirement system for which all required contributions have been made to, and are being held by, the retirement system.
(17)  "Temporary employee" means a person who has a position only until another person can be hired, only for the duration of a project scheduled to end less than six months after the date of hiring, only until a specific date less than six months after the date of hiring, or only until a volume of work is completed that is estimated to be completed in less than six months after the date of hiring.
(18)  "Parole officer" has the meaning assigned by Section 508.001.
Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 1876, ch. 453, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1981.  Amended by Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 91, Sec. 3, eff. Sept. 1, 1985;  Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 828, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1985;  Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 204, Sec. 8, eff. Aug. 31, 1987;  Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 944, Sec. 2, eff. June 20, 1987.  Renumbered from Vernon's Ann.Civ.St. Title 110B, Sec. 21.001 and amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 179, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.  Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 988, Sec. 1.11, eff. Sept. 1, 1993;  Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 5.95(34), eff. Sept. 1, 1995;  Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 688, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995;  Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1035, Sec. 53, eff. Sept. 1, 1997;  Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1048, Sec. 2, eff. Sept. 1, 1997;  Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1499, Sec. 1.10, eff. Sept. 1, 1999;  Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1541, Sec. 3, eff. Sept. 1, 1999;  Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1231, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2001;  Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 842, Sec. 6, eff. Sept. 1, 2003;  Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1111, Sec. 10, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
Amended by: 
Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 74 (S.B. 262), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2005.
Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 347 (S.B. 1176), Sec. 3, eff. September 1, 2005.
Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 263 (S.B. 103), Sec. 21, eff. June 8, 2007.
Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 87 (S.B. 1969), Sec. 25.081, eff. September 1, 2009.
Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 93 (S.B. 686), Sec. 2.34, eff. May 18, 2013.
Acts 2021, 87th Leg., R.S., Ch. 940 (S.B. 321), Sec. 3, eff. September 1, 2021.