HB4161 - Relating to cost-of-living increases applicable to certain benefits paid by the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.

      By: Muñoz H.B. No. 4161       A BILL TO BE ENTITLED   AN ACT   relating to cost-of-living increases applicable to certain   benefits paid by the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.          BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:          SECTION 1.  Subchapter H, Chapter 824, Government Code, is   amended by adding Section 824.704 to read as follows:           Sec.   824.704.     COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENTS FOR INFLATION;   ANNUAL DETERMINATION. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, the   amount of a service retirement benefit, disability retirement   benefit, or death benefit paid under this chapter is adjusted in   accordance with this section as necessary to reflect inflation.           (b)     Each year, during the last seven days of October, the   board of trustees shall set the rate of the adjustment for the next   calendar year to equal the annual percentage increase, if any, in   the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical   Workers (CPI-W) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the   United States Department of Labor as determined by the commissioner   of social security under 42 U.S.C. Section 415(i) for purposes of   providing an annual cost-of-living increase to social security   benefit payments payable in the next calendar year.           (c)     Subject to Subsection (d), the board of trustees shall   increase the amount of a benefit payable under this chapter by   applying the adjustment rate set by the board of trustees under   Subsection (b) to the amount otherwise required to be paid as   determined in accordance with the other applicable provisions of   this chapter.           (d)     The board of trustees may not pay a benefit increase   under this section in any calendar year unless the board finds that   the retirement system is actuarially sound and has money available   to pay increased benefits in that year. If the board of trustees   finds that the retirement system is actuarially sound, but that the   amount of money available is not sufficient to pay the full amount   of the adjustment under Subsection (b), the board shall compute the   largest rate of adjustment possible for the amount of money   available while maintaining the actuarial soundness of the system   and shall use that rate in increasing benefits under Subsection (c)   for that calendar year.          SECTION 2.  This Act applies only to a benefit paid by the   Teacher Retirement System of Texas on or after January 1, 2026.          SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.