Sec. 26. EXCESS BENEFIT PLAN.    (a)  A separate, nonqualified, unfunded excess benefit plan is created outside the fund.
(b) In this section:
(1)  "Excess benefit plan" or "plan" means the separate, nonqualified, unfunded excess benefit plan created by this section for the benefit of eligible members, as amended or restated from time to time, that is intended to be a "qualified governmental excess benefit arrangement" within the meaning of Section 415(m) of the code.
(2)  "Qualified plan" means the pension system and any other plan maintained by the city for the exclusive benefit of some or all of the members of the pension system that has been found by the Internal Revenue Service to be qualified or has been treated by the city as a qualified plan under Section 401 of the code.
(3)  "Maximum benefit" means the retirement benefit a retired member and the spouse, dependent child, or dependent parent of a retired member or deceased member or retiree are eligible to receive from all qualified plans in any month after giving effect to Section 25(b) of this article and any similar provisions of any other qualified plans designed to conform to Section 415 of the code.
(4)  "Excess benefit participant" means any retired member whose retirement benefits as determined on the basis of all qualified plans without regard to the limitations of Section 25(b) of this article and comparable provisions of other qualified plans would exceed the maximum benefit permitted under Section 415 of the code.
(5)  "Unrestricted benefit" means the monthly retirement benefit a retired member and the spouse, dependent child, or dependent parent of a retired member or deceased member would have received under the terms of all qualified plans except for the restrictions of Section 25(b) of this article and any similar provisions of any other qualified plans designed to conform to Section 415 of the code.
(c)  An excess benefit participant who is receiving benefits from the pension system is eligible for a monthly benefit under this excess benefit plan in an amount equal to the lesser of:
(1)  the member's unrestricted benefit less the maximum benefit; or
(2)  the amount by which the member's monthly benefit from the fund has been reduced because of the limitations of Section 415 of the code.
(d)  If a spouse, dependent child, or dependent parent is eligible for preretirement or postretirement death benefits under a qualified plan after the death of an excess benefit participant, the surviving spouse, dependent child, or dependent parent is eligible for a monthly benefit under the excess benefit plan equal to the benefit determined in accordance with this article without regard to the limitations under Section 25(b) of this article or Section 415 of the code, less the maximum benefit.
(e)  Any benefit to which a person is eligible under this section shall be paid at the same time and in the same manner as the benefit would have been paid from the pension system if payment of the benefit from the pension system had not been precluded by Section 25(b) of this article.  An excess benefit participant or any beneficiary may not, under any circumstances, elect to defer the receipt of all or any part of a payment due under this section.
(f) The board shall administer the plan, and the board's designee shall also carry out the business of the board with respect to the plan.  Except as otherwise provided by this section, the rights, duties, and responsibilities of the board and the board's designee are the same for the plan as for the funds of the pension system.
(g) The consultants, independent auditors, attorneys, and actuaries selected to perform services for the fund also shall perform services for the plan, but the fees for their services may not be paid by the fund.  The actuary engaged to perform services for the fund shall advise the board of the amount of benefits that may not be provided from the fund solely by reason of the limitations of Section 415 of the code and the amount of employer contributions that will be made to the plan rather than to the fund.
(h) Contributions may not be accumulated under the plan to pay future retirement benefits.  Instead, each payment of city contributions that would otherwise be made to the fund under Section 9 of this article shall be reduced by the amount determined by the board or its designee as necessary to meet the requirements for retirement benefits under the plan, including reasonable administrative expenses, until the next payment of city contributions is expected to be made to the pension system.  The city shall then pay to the plan, from the withheld contributions, not earlier than the 30th day before the date each distribution of monthly retirement benefits is required to be made from the plan, the amount necessary to satisfy the obligation to pay monthly retirement benefits from the plan.  The board or its designee shall satisfy the obligation of the plan to pay retirement benefits from the employer contributions so transferred for that month.
(i) Employer contributions otherwise required to be made to the pension system under Section 9 of this article and any other qualified plan shall be divided into those contributions required to pay retirement benefits under this section and those contributions paid into and accumulated to pay the maximum benefits permitted under the qualified plan.  Employer contributions made to provide retirement benefits under this section may not be commingled with the money of the fund forming part of the pension system or any other qualified plan.
Sec. 27.  CERTAIN WRITTEN AGREEMENTS BETWEEN PENSION SYSTEM AND CITY AUTHORIZED.  (a)  Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, the board or a designee of the board is responsible for representing the interests of the pension system and all pension issues and benefits affecting the pension system or its members and beneficiaries under this article.  The board may enter into a written agreement with the city on behalf of the pension system and members and beneficiaries of the pension system if the agreement is approved by the board and signed by the mayor and the board or the board's designee.
(b)  A pension benefit or allowance provided by this article may be increased if the increase:
(1)  is first approved by a qualified actuary selected by the board;
(2)  is approved by the board and the city in a written agreement as authorized by this section; and
(3)  does not deprive a member, without the member's written consent, of a right to receive benefits when the member is fully eligible.
(c)  In a written agreement entered into between the city and the board under this section, the parties may not:
(1)  alter Sections 9 through 9E of this article, except and only to the extent necessary to comply with federal law;
(2)  increase the assumed rate of return to more than seven percent per year;
(3)  extend the amortization period of a liability layer to more than 30 years from the first day of the fiscal year beginning 12 months after the date of the risk sharing valuation study in which the liability layer is first recognized; or
(4)  allow a city contribution rate in any year that is less than or greater than the city contribution rate required under Section 9D or 9E of this article, as applicable.
Sec. 28. NONREDUCTION, NONALIENATION, AND NONASSIGNMENT OF BENEFITS.    (a)  No portion of the funds held by the pension system, either before or after an order for its disbursement by the board, and no amounts due or to become due to any member or survivor under this article may be held, seized, taken, subject to, detained, or levied on by virtue of any execution, attachment, garnishment, injunction, or other writ, and no order or decree, and no process may issue out of or by any court of this state for the payment or satisfaction, in whole or in part, out of the funds held by or due from the pension system, of any debt, damage, claim, demand, or judgment against any member, survivor, dependent, or any other person.
(b) No part of the funds or any claim to the funds may be directly or indirectly assigned or transferred.  Any attempt to transfer or assign any part of the funds or a claim to the funds is void.
(c) The funds shall be held, kept, and disbursed for the purposes provided by this article, and for no other purpose, except that a retired member, survivor, or dependent, at the person's discretion, may have deducted from the person's pension the monthly premium cost of any group insurance program in which the retired member is participating.
(d) A benefit payable under this article may not be reduced or discontinued for any person except under the terms applicable to the benefit at the time the person becomes eligible to receive the benefit.
(e) This section does not prevent the division of the benefits accrued by a member under any court order determined by the board or its designee to be a qualified domestic relations order and the payment of a share of a retired member's benefits or contributions to an alternate payee in accordance with the order.
Sec. 29. CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION ABOUT MEMBERS OR BENEFICIARIES.    (a)  Information contained in a record that is in the custody of a fund established under this article concerning an individual member, retiree, survivor, or beneficiary is confidential for purposes of Sections 552.101, 552.102, and 552.117, Government Code.  The information may not be disclosed in a form that identifies a specific individual unless the information is disclosed to:
(1)  the individual;
(2)  the individual's attorney, guardian, executor, administrator, or conservator;  or
(3)  a person who has written authorization from the individual to receive the information.
(b) This section does not prevent the disclosure of the status or identity of an individual as a member, former member, retiree, deceased member, survivor, beneficiary, or alternate payee of the system.
(c)  To carry out the provisions of Sections 9 through 9E of this article, the board and the pension system shall provide the city actuary under a confidentiality agreement the actuarial data used by the pension system actuary for the pension system's actuarial valuations or valuation studies and other data as agreed to between the city and the pension system that the city actuary determines is reasonably necessary for the city actuary to perform the studies required by Sections 9A through 9E of this article.  Actuarial data described by this subsection does not include information described by Subsection (a) of this section.
(d)  A risk sharing valuation study prepared by either the city actuary or the pension system actuary under Sections 9A through 9E 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.
(e)  The information, data, and document exchanges under Sections 9 through 9E 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 city and pension system in a written agreement under Section 27 of this article.
(f)  Subsection (e) of this section does not apply to:
(1)  a proposed risk sharing valuation study prepared by the pension system actuary and provided to the city actuary or prepared by the city actuary and provided to the pension system actuary under Section 9A(d) or 9B(b)(2) of this article; or
(2)   a final risk sharing valuation study prepared under Section 9A or 9B of this article.
(g)  Before a union contract is approved by the city, the mayor of the city must cause the city actuaries to deliver to the mayor a report estimating the impact of the proposed union contract on fund costs.
Sec. 30.  FORFEITURE OF BENEFITS.  (a)  Notwithstanding any other law, a member who is convicted, after exhausting all appeals, of an offense punishable as a felony of the first degree in relation to, arising out of, or in connection with the member's service as a classified police officer may not receive any benefits under this article.
(b)  After the member described by Subsection (a) of this section is finally convicted, the member's spouse may apply for benefits if the member, but for application of Subsection (a) of this section, would have been eligible for a pension benefit or a delayed payment of benefits.  If the member would not have been eligible for a pension benefit or a delayed payment of benefits, the member's spouse may apply for a refund of the member's contributions.  A refund under this subsection does not include interest and does not include contributions the city made on the member's behalf.  The city may not receive a refund of any contributions the city made on the member's behalf.