2023 Texas Statutes › Vernon's Civil Statutes › Title 109 - Pensions › Article 6243h. Municipal Pension System in Cities of 1,500,000 or More › Section 22. Exemption From Execution, Attachment, or Other Writ

Sec. 22.  EXEMPTION FROM EXECUTION, ATTACHMENT, OR OTHER WRIT.  (a)  No portion of the pension fund, either before or after its order of disbursement by the pension board, and no amount due or to become due to any retiree, eligible survivor, or beneficiary, may be held, seized, taken, detained, or levied on by, or subjected to, execution, attachment, garnishment, injunction, or any other writ.  No order or decree, or any process or proceeding, may be issued by a court of this state for the payment or satisfaction in whole or in part out of the pension fund of a debt, damage, claim, demand, or judgment against any member, retiree, eligible survivor, or other person.  The pension fund and any claim on the pension fund may not be directly or indirectly assigned or transferred.  Any attempt to transfer or assign the pension fund or any part of the pension fund, and any claim on the pension fund, is void.  The pension fund shall be sacredly held, kept, and disbursed only for the purposes provided by this Act, except that a retiree or eligible survivor may have deducted from that person's pension or survivor benefit an amount required by law or a voluntary amount authorized by law and the pension board.
(b)  This section does not prevent the division of benefits accrued by a member under any court order determined by the pension board or its designee to be a qualified domestic relations order and the payment of a share of a retiree's benefits or contributions to an alternate payee in accordance with the order.
(c)  This section does not prevent the offset of amounts received wrongly or in error against future pension or benefit payments under Section 3(h) of this Act.
Sec. 23.  FEDERAL TAX QUALIFICATION OF PENSION FUND; MAXIMUM BENEFITS FROM PENSION FUND.  (a)  The pension fund is intended to qualify under Section 401(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and is for the exclusive benefit of the members and retirees and their eligible survivors.  No part of the corpus or income of the pension fund may ever be used for or diverted to any purpose other than for the benefit of members and retirees and their eligible survivors as provided by this Act.
(b)  A member, retiree, or eligible survivor of the pension system may not accrue a retirement pension, disability retirement allowance, survivor benefit, death benefit allowance, DROP benefit, or any other benefit under this Act in excess of the benefit limits applicable to the pension fund under Section 415, Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.  The pension board shall reduce the amount of any benefit that exceeds those limits by the amount of the excess.  If total benefits under the pension fund and the benefits and contributions to which any member is eligible under any other qualified plan maintained by the city that employs the member would otherwise exceed the applicable limits under Section 415, Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, the benefits the member would otherwise receive from the pension fund shall be reduced to the extent necessary so that the benefits do not exceed the benefit limits under Section 415, Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.
(c)  Any member, retiree, or eligible survivor who receives any distribution that is an eligible rollover distribution as defined by Section 402(c)(4), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, is eligible to have that distribution transferred directly to another eligible retirement plan of the member's, retiree's, or eligible survivor's choice on providing direction to the pension system regarding that transfer in accordance with procedures established by the pension board.
(d)  The total salary taken into account for any purpose for any member or retiree of the pension system may not exceed $200,000 for any year for an eligible participant, or $150,000 a year for an ineligible participant.  These dollar limits shall be adjusted from time to time in accordance with guidelines provided by the United States secretary of the treasury.  For purposes of this subsection, an eligible participant is a person who first became a member of the predecessor system before 1996, and an ineligible participant is a member who is not an eligible participant.
(e)  Accrued benefits under this Act become 100 percent nonforfeitable for a member on the date the member has completed five years of credited service, except as otherwise provided by law.  If the pension system or the pension fund is terminated or partially terminated, or city contributions to the pension fund are discontinued completely, there may not be a reversion of funds to the city.  On the complete or partial termination or discontinuance of city contributions, the pension fund held by the pension system shall be used exclusively for benefits for members, deferred participants, retirees, and their eligible survivors, and the affected employees' rights to the benefits, to the extent funded, shall be nonforfeitable if not already nonforfeitable under this subsection.
(f)  Amounts representing forfeited benefits of terminated members may not be used to increase benefits payable from the pension fund, but may be used to reduce contributions for future plan years.
(g)  Distributions of benefits must begin not later than April 1 of the year following the calendar year during which the member becomes 70-1/2 years of age or terminates employment with the employer, if later, and must otherwise conform to Section 401(a)(9), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.
(h)  If the amount of any benefit is to be determined on the basis of actuarial assumptions that are not otherwise specifically set forth for that purpose in this Act, the actuarial assumptions to be used are those earnings and mortality assumptions being used on the date of the determination by the pension fund's actuary and approved by the pension board.  The actuarial assumptions being used at any particular time shall be attached as an addendum to a copy of this Act and treated for all purposes as a part of the Act.  The actuarial assumptions may be changed by the pension fund's actuary at any time if approved by the pension board.  A change in actuarial assumptions may not result in any decrease in benefits accrued as of the effective date of the change.
(i)  To the extent permitted by law, the pension board may adjust the benefits of retirees and eligible survivors by increasing any benefit that was reduced because of Section 415, Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.  If Section 415, Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, is amended to permit the payment of amounts previously precluded under that section, the pension board may adjust the benefits of retirees and eligible survivors, including restoring benefits previously denied.  Benefits paid under this subsection are not extra compensation earned after retirement but are the delayed payment of benefits earned before retirement.
(j)  The pension board may make any change in this Act to the extent that the change is necessary to ensure compliance with the qualification requirements of Section 401, Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or any other federal law.