2023 Texas Statutes › Vernon's Civil Statutes › Title 109 - Pensions › Article 6243n-1. Police Officers Retirement System in Municipalities of 460,000 to 500,000 › Article IV. › Section 4.01. Membership

Sec. 4.01. MEMBERSHIP.    (a)  Any person who is a police officer of the city on the date the police retirement system becomes effective and was a member of the predecessor system on December 31, 1979, shall become a member as a condition of employment.
(b) Any person who is a police officer of the city on the date the police retirement system becomes effective but was not a member of the predecessor system, if eligible for membership, shall become a member as a condition of employment and shall make the required deposits commencing with the first pay period following a probationary period of six continuous months from date of employment or eligibility, if later.
(c)  Any person who becomes an employee of the city or the system, if eligible for membership, shall become a member as a condition of employment and shall make the required deposits commencing with the first pay period following a probationary period of six continuous months from date of employment, if applicable, or eligibility, if later.
(d) Police officers of the city and employees of the system may not become members of the police retirement system if they are part-time police officers or employees of the system who are expected to work less than a normal work week or if they are seasonal or temporary police officers or employees of the system.  A full-time police officer of the city or employee of the system eligible for membership in the system is one whose position is classified in the annual budget, who is expected to be employed throughout the full calendar year, and whose employment is expected to continue from year to year.
(e)  Membership in the police retirement system shall consist of the following groups:
(1)  Active--Contributory: the member who is in a status which allows payroll contributions to the police retirement system (working a normal work week, holding a full-time position, and, if applicable, having completed a continuous period of six months of service initially, to attain membership).
(2)  Active--Noncontributory: the member whose current employment status does not allow contributions to the system (working less than a normal work week or on a leave of absence under Subsection (f)(6)(A) of this section) and on return to working a normal work week, the member will again be given creditable service, with contributions resumed at time of status change.
(3)  Inactive--Contributory: the member who is on a uniformed service leave of absence under Subsection (f)(6)(B) of this section, who is allowed to make deposits to the system during the member's absence.
(4)  Vested--Noncontributory: the terminated member who, being vested, leaves the member's accumulated deposits in the system.
(5)  Retired: the member who is receiving a service or disability retirement annuity.
(e-1)  Each member is either a group A member or a group B member, as follows:
(1)  a member is a group A member if the member was:
(A)  retired from or employed by the city or the system on December 31, 2021;
(B)  a vested--noncontributory member as of December 31, 2021, who has not withdrawn the member's accumulated deposits; or
(C)  formerly employed by the city or the system before December 31, 2021, returned to employment with the city or system on or after January 1, 2022, and:
(i)  did not withdraw the member's accumulated deposits from the system; or
(ii)  withdrew the member's accumulated deposits from the system, but reinstated all of the previously forfeited creditable service; and
(2)  a member is a group B member if the member:
(A)  first became employed by the city or the system on or after January 1, 2022; or
(B)  was formerly employed by the city or the system before December 31, 2021, returned to employment with the city or system on or after January 1, 2022, and:
(i)  while the member was separated from service, withdrew the member's accumulated deposits from the system; and
(ii)  has not reinstated all of the member's previously forfeited creditable service.
(e-2)  It shall be the duty of the police retirement board to determine the membership group to which each police officer or employee of the system who becomes a member of the police retirement system properly belongs under Subsections (e) and (e-1) of this section.
(f)(1)  A member shall cease to be a member of the police retirement system and shall forfeit creditable service if, after employment termination through dismissal, resignation, or from any other cause, the member shall withdraw the member's accumulated deposits as provided under the withdrawal benefit provisions of this Act;  provided, however, that any eligible member who has not previously received credit for one-half of the member's previously forfeited creditable service shall be entitled to reinstatement of previously forfeited creditable service if such eligible member or eligible surviving spouse shall have deposited in the system the accumulated deposits withdrawn and an interest charge based on the amount withdrawn times an interest factor.  The interest factor is eight percent per year for the period that begins with the beginning of the month and year in which the member withdrew the member's accumulated deposits and ends with the beginning of the month and year payment is made to the system to reinstate the service.
(2) For purposes of this subsection, an eligible member is a police officer who has been reemployed by the city or a system employee who has been reemployed by the system, has completed at least 24 consecutive months of service as a member since the member was reemployed, and is not separated from active service.  For purposes of this subsection, an eligible surviving spouse is the surviving spouse of a member who was an eligible member immediately before the time of death if the member dies before making payment to the system of the amount required by this subsection.
(3) In order to be eligible to reinstate previously forfeited creditable service, an eligible member or eligible surviving spouse must deposit the amount described in Subdivision (1) of this subsection as a lump sum in the system.  An eligible surviving spouse may reinstate previously forfeited creditable service not later than the date that is six months after the date of the member's death and only if the lump-sum death benefit described by Section 6.05(a) or 6.06(a)(3) of this Act is not paid.
(4) Any such member who has previously received credit for one-half of previously forfeited creditable service shall be entitled to reinstate the remaining one-half of the member's previously forfeited creditable service by payment of one-half of the amount previously withdrawn and an interest charge as described in Subdivision (1) of this subsection.
(5) The method of determining the amount of the required payment described by Subdivision (1) of this subsection may be changed if:
(A) the effect of the change is disclosed by the board's actuary;
(B) the change is adopted by the board as a board rule;  and
(C) the change applies to all payments for reinstating previously forfeited creditable service under this subsection made to the system after the effective date of the change.
(6)(A) A member granted a leave of absence or withdrawing from service for a stated period of time, not to exceed two years, who allows the member's accumulated deposits to the police retirement system to remain in the system, shall be eligible for continued membership on being reemployed by the city as a police officer or by the system as an employee of the system.  During that period the employee shall not receive creditable service.
(B) Uniformed service leave of absence shall not be included in the two-year period if the member returns to active service with the city as a police officer or with the system as an employee of the system within 90 days after the expiration of the uniformed service leave of absence.  A member of the system on uniformed service leave of absence may make deposits to the system during the leave of absence, in an amount each biweekly pay period that is equal to the amount of the member's deposit for the last complete biweekly pay period that the member was paid by the city or the system.  If a member on a uniformed service leave of absence makes biweekly deposits during the leave of absence, the employer shall make a contribution to the system for the member each biweekly pay period in an amount the employer would have made if the member's biweekly pay had continued to be the biweekly pay the member received for the last complete biweekly pay period that the member was paid by the employer. If the member does not make deposits during a uniformed service leave of absence, the member may make payment within five years after the member has returned to the employment of the city or the system, equal to the deposits the member would have made if the member had continued to be paid by the city or the system during the member's leave of absence at the same rate of pay the member was receiving at the time the member's leave of absence began.  The payment may be a single payment or may be in installments as long as each individual installment is not less than 20 percent of the total amount to be paid.  A member who otherwise would be eligible to make payment under this subdivision but who has not made payment and for whom it has been more than five years since the member returned to the employment of the city may make payment during the period beginning October 1, 1995, and ending September 30, 1996.  If a member makes payment of the deposits after returning to the employment of the city or the system, the employer will make a single contribution for the member equal to the deposits it would have made on the member's behalf if the member had made deposits to the system during the period of the member's leave.
(g) Repealed by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 40, Sec. 18, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.