2023 Texas Statutes › Vernon's Civil Statutes › Title 109 - Pensions › Article 6243o. Police and Fire Fighter Retirement System in Municipalities of 750,000 to 1,000,000 › Article 1. General Provisions › Section 1.02. Definitions

Sec. 1.02. DEFINITIONS.  In this Act:
(1)  "Active member" means a fire fighter or police officer who is a current contributing member of the fund.
(1-a)  "Alternate payee" has the meaning assigned by Section 804.001, Government Code, or any successor statute.
(2)  "Average total salary" means the aggregate total salary, as defined by Subdivision (17) of this section, received by a member during the three years of the five-year period ending on the date of the member's service or disability retirement or death in which the member's total salary is highest, divided by three.
(3)  "Beneficiary" means the surviving spouse, dependent child, or dependent parent of a deceased member or retiree.
(4)  "Board" means the board of trustees of a fund to which this Act applies.
(4-a)  "Catastrophic injury" means, except as provided by Section 5.03(a-2) of this Act, irreparable physical bodily injury sustained by a member as a direct and immediate result of the member's engaging in an activity that:
(A)  constitutes the performance of the member's duties as a firefighter or police officer;
(B)  involves an extraordinary degree of risk of bodily injury or death; and
(C)  does not result in death.
(4-b)  "Class" means the trainee class of a fire fighter or police officer training academy of a municipality to which this Act applies from which a member graduated, as determined by the board.
(4-c)  "Class graduation date" means the date the graduates of any class graduated, as determined by the board.
(5)  "Code" means the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or a successor statute, unless the context requires otherwise.
(6)  "Department" means the fire department of a municipality to which this Act applies, the police department of a municipality to which this Act applies, or both the fire department and the police department of such a municipality.
(7)  "Dependent child" means:
(A)  a person who is less than 18 years of age and is a natural or adopted child of a deceased member or deceased retiree; or
(B)  a person:
(i)  who is at least 18 years of age;
(ii)  who is mentally or physically disabled to the extent that the person is not capable of being self-supporting; and
(iii)  whose natural or adoptive parent is a deceased member or deceased retiree.
(8)  "Dependent parent" means a person who is the natural parent of a deceased member or deceased retiree or who adopted a deceased member or deceased retiree before the deceased member's or retiree's 18th birthday if, for the year immediately preceding the death of the member or retiree, the deceased member or retiree claimed the person as a dependent on the member's or retiree's federal income tax return.
(8-a)  "Disability" means a regular disability under Section 5.03(a) of this Act or a catastrophic injury disability under Section 5.03(a-1) of this Act.
(9)  "Fire fighter" means an employee of the fire department who is classified as a fire fighter by the personnel department of the municipality.
(10)  "Fund" means the fire fighters and police officers pension fund of a municipality to which this Act applies.
(11)  "Member" means a fire fighter or police officer who has become a member of the fund as provided by Section 4.01(a) or 4.011 of this Act and has not retired, died, or forfeited the person's interest in the fund.
(11-a)  "Member buyback contribution amount" means the amount of the first contribution by a member to the fund for a full pay period, multiplied by 26, divided by 12, and multiplied by 3.
(12)  "Police officer" means an employee of the police department who is classified as a police officer by the personnel department of the municipality.
(12-a)  "Probationary period" means the period beginning on the graduation date of a graduate of a class and ending on the date the graduate becomes a member.
(12-b)  "Qualified funds" means pretax funds that are part of an eligible rollover distribution, as described in Section 402(f)(2) of the code, or funds that have been transferred to the fund in accordance with Section 403(b)(13) or Section 457(e)(17) of the code to purchase years or fractions of years of service.
(12-c)  "Qualified mayoral designee" means an individual designated by the mayor of a municipality to which this Act applies who is a member or former member of the city council of, or an employee of, a municipality to which this Act applies.
(13)  "Retiree" means a member who has terminated employment with the department with a right to a service retirement pension as provided by Section 5.01 of this Act or a disability retirement pension as provided by Section 5.03 of this Act.
(14)  "Retirement" means the period that a retiree is entitled to receive service retirement benefits or disability retirement benefits.
(15)  "Retirement annuity" means pension benefits payable to a retiree on an annual basis in accordance with this Act.
(16)  "Surviving spouse" means a widow or a widower of a member or retiree who was married to the member or retiree at the time of the member's or retiree's death.
(17)  "Total salary" means all salary of a member:
(A)  including:
(i)  amounts picked up by the municipality under Section 4.04(b) of this Act; and
(ii)  amounts that would be included in salary but for an election under Section 125(d), 132(f)(4), 401(k), 402(e)(3), 402(h)(1)(B), or 457(b) of the code; and
(B)  excluding:
(i)  overtime pay, field training officer's pay, bomb squad pay, SWAT team pay, K-9 pay, and hostage team pay; and
(ii)  pay for unused accrued vacation and sick leave, holiday pay, compensatory time pay, and bonus days leave, or any similar items of compensation that may be paid in the future.
(18)  "Years of service" means a member's total years of service, including fractional years or full months of service, computed as provided by Section 5.01 of this Act.