Sec. 15. EXEMPTION OF BENEFITS FROM JUDICIAL PROCESS.  The fund may not, either before or after its order of disbursement by the board to a member, a spouse eligible to receive a benefit under the DROP, an eligible spouse, the guardian of an eligible child, or an eligible parent, be held, seized, subjected to, or levied on by virtue of any execution, attachment, garnishment, injunction, or other writ, order, or decree, or any process issued out of, or by, any court for the payment or satisfaction of any debt, damage, claim, demand, or judgment against a member, a spouse eligible to receive a benefit under the DROP, an eligible spouse, the guardian of an eligible child, or an eligible parent.  The fund or any claim against the fund may not be directly or indirectly assigned or transferred, and any attempt to assign or transfer the fund or a claim is void.  The fund shall be sacredly held, kept, and disbursed only for the purposes provided by this article.
Sec. 16. SERVICE CREDIT FOR MEMBERS PREVIOUSLY MEMBERS OF SIMILAR FUNDS.    (a)  A person who becomes a firefighter in a municipality to which this article applies may receive service credit for prior employment with the fully paid fire department of another municipality in this state with a similar fund benefiting only firefighters of that municipality to which the firefighter contributed if:
(1)  the firefighter is under 36 years of age at the time of applying to the fund;
(2)  the firefighter passes a physical examination;
(3)  the firefighter pays into the fund an amount equal to the total contribution the firefighter would have made had the firefighter been employed by the municipality, at the municipality's pay scale, instead of the municipality by which the firefighter was previously employed, plus six percent interest, compounded annually;
(4)  the firefighter applies for that credit not later than the 60th day after the date on which membership begins;  and
(5)  the firefighter has moved directly into employment at the fire department from the fire department for which the prior service credit is sought, without any intervening employment or extended interruption.
(b) A member may receive credit for prior service in more than one fire department under Subsection (a) of this section only if there have not been interruptions in employment and each preceding service meets the other requirements of Subsection (a) of this section.
(c) The municipality to which the member has transferred shall pay an amount equal to the amount it would have paid had the member been employed by that municipality instead of the municipality by which the firefighter was previously employed, based on the municipality's pay scale, plus six percent interest, compounded annually.  Both the municipality's contribution and the member's contribution must be paid promptly on approval of the member's application for service credit.
(d) A firefighter may not participate under this section in the fund of the municipality to which the firefighter has transferred until the firefighter has fully complied with this article and the municipality has complied with Subsection (c) of this section.
(e) A firefighter eligible for prior service credit may participate in the fund, subject to the other requirements of this article, without obtaining that credit, and if the firefighter does not comply with the provisions and time limits of this section, the firefighter is ineligible for the credit.
Sec. 17. CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION ABOUT MEMBERS OR BENEFICIARIES.    (a)  Information contained in records that are in the custody of a fund established under this article concerning an individual member, retiree, or beneficiary is not public information under Chapter 552, Government Code.  The information may not be disclosed in a form identifiable with a specific individual unless:
(1)  the information is disclosed to:
(A)  the individual;
(B)  the individual's attorney, guardian, executor, administrator, or conservator, or other legal representative of the individual's estate or court-approved small estate or other person who the board determines is acting in the interest of the individual or the individual's estate;
(C)  a spouse or former spouse of the individual, or the attorney of the spouse or former spouse, if the information concerns the spouse's or former spouse's interest in member accounts, benefits, or other amounts payable by the fund;  or
(D)  a person with written authorization from the individual to receive the information;  or
(2)  the information is disclosed under an authorization of the board that specifies the reason for the disclosure.
(b) Notwithstanding Subsection (a) of this section, the fund may disclose the status or identity of an individual as a member, former member, retiree, deceased member, or beneficiary of the fund, as well as the individual's dates of service, date of death, last rank held, and the divisions of the fire department of the municipality in which service has been rendered.
(c) A determination and disclosure under Subsection (a)(2) of this section may be made without notice to the individual member, retiree, or beneficiary.
(d) The release of information concerning members, retirees, or beneficiaries to departments of the municipality, or to other municipal employee pension funds or systems of the municipality, in order to implement or advance the purposes of this article is permitted under this section.  The release of that information does not constitute any waiver of confidentiality by the fund or any waiver as to confidentiality of the information under the statutes and policies governing the receiving municipal department or employee pension fund or system.
(e) The publication and provision by the fund of a retiree's address, e-mail address, telephone number, dates of service, and last rank held and of the divisions of the fire department of the municipality in which service was rendered, within compilations or directories of this information concerning fund retirees, is permitted under this section.  The fund, in its sole discretion, may provide or distribute those compilations as it deems is in the best interest of the retirees in general.  A retiree may prevent the publication under this subsection of information relating to the retiree by giving advance written notice to the fund.
(f)  To carry out the provisions of Sections 13A through 13F of this article, the board and the fund must provide the municipal actuary under a confidentiality agreement the actuarial data used by the fund actuary for the fund's actuarial valuations or valuation studies and other data as agreed to between the municipality and the fund that the municipal actuary determines is reasonably necessary for the municipal actuary to perform the studies required by Sections 13A through 13F of this article.  Actuarial data described by this subsection does not include information described by Subsection (a) of this section.
(g)  A risk sharing valuation study prepared by either the municipal actuary or the fund actuary under Sections 13A through 13F of this article may not:
(1)  include information described by Subsection (a) of this section; or
(2)  provide confidential or private information regarding specific individuals or be grouped in a manner that allows confidential or private information regarding a specific individual to be discerned.
(h)  The information, data, and document exchanges under Sections 13A through 13F of this article have all the protections afforded by applicable law and are expressly exempt from the disclosure requirements under Chapter 552, Government Code, except as may be agreed to by the municipality and fund in a written agreement.
(i)  Subsection (h) of this section does not apply to:
(1)  a proposed risk sharing valuation study prepared by the fund actuary and provided to the municipal actuary or prepared by the municipal actuary and provided to the fund actuary under Section 13B(d) or 13C(b)(2); or
(2)  a final risk sharing valuation study prepared under Section 13B or 13C of this article.
(j)  Before a union contract is approved by the municipality, the mayor of the municipality shall cause the municipal actuaries to deliver to the mayor a report estimating the impact of the proposed union contract on fund costs.
Sec. 18. PROPORTIONAL RETIREMENT PROGRAM.    (a)  In this section:
(1)  "Combined service credit" means the total amount of service credit a member has for participation in the fund plus service credit the member has in any participating retirement system.
(2)  "Participating retirement system" means the retirement system established under Article 6243g-4, Revised Statutes, or Chapter 358, Acts of the 48th Legislature, Regular Session, 1943 (Article 6243g, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or a successor statute to either of those laws.
(3)  "Program" means a proportional retirement benefits program established under this section that permits members to establish service credit for a proportional retirement benefit using combined service credit.
(4)  "Service credit" means service or participation that is credited under the fund or a participating retirement system to establish service or participation requirements for a proportional retirement benefit.
(b) The board may maintain a proportional retirement program under this section.
(c) Under the program, a member who is eligible to participate may use combined service credit to determine eligibility for a benefit under this article.  The member must have at least 20 years of combined service credit to receive a proportional retirement benefit.  The member is subject to the same requirements and receives the same benefits, including enhancements, as a member who establishes retirement eligibility for the same amount of service credit without using combined service credit.
(d) A member may not:
(1)  use service credit in a participating retirement system to meet the eligibility requirements for participating in a DROP under Section 5 of this article;
(2)  receive service credit in the fund for the same service for which the member receives service credit in a participating retirement system;  or
(3)  receive a benefit under the program in an amount that is greater than the amount the member would have received for the same benefit without the program unless the greater amount results from a modification under Subsection (j) of this section.
(e) A person is eligible to participate in the program if the person is employed by the city, is covered by a participating retirement system, and is or has been a member of the fund.
(f) A member who is retired or participating in a DROP under Section 5 of this article may not participate in the program.  A member may not receive a disability retirement benefit and a service retirement benefit under the program.
(g) In determining proportional retirement benefits under the program for a member who has participated in the fund for less than 20 years, the member is entitled to a monthly benefit in an amount equal to 1.7 percent of the member's average monthly salary multiplied by the number of the member's years of participation in the fund.
(h) A member who receives a disability benefit under a participating retirement system may receive a proportional disability benefit under the program as provided by Subsection (i) of this section.
(i) In determining disability retirement benefits under the program, the member is entitled to a monthly benefit in an amount equal to 1.7 percent of the member's average monthly salary multiplied by the number of the member's years of participation in the fund.
(j) The board may modify the program only to make the program's provisions compatible with the provisions of a participating retirement system.  The board may not modify the program for the purpose of providing a new benefit to a member.
(k) If the board determines that the provisions governing a participating retirement system are not compatible with the provisions governing the fund under this article, the board may terminate the program.  The board shall provide written notice to the executive director of the participating retirement system before the 30th day preceding the date of the program's termination.  The board may reestablish the program at its discretion, subject to the requirements of this section.
(l) The board may adopt rules to implement and administer this section.