2023 Texas Statutes › Vernon's Civil Statutes › Title 109 - Pensions › Article 6243e.2(1). Firefighters' Relief and Retirement Fund in Municipalities of at Least 1,600,000 Population › Section 1. Definitions

Sec. 1. DEFINITIONS.  In this article:
(1)  "Active service" means a status of current employment as a firefighter by the fire department of a municipality described by Section 2(a) of this article.
(1-a)  "Actuarial data" includes:
(A)  the census data, assumption tables, disclosure of methods, and financial information that are routinely used by the fund actuary for the fund's valuation studies or an actuarial experience study under Section 13D of this article; and
(B)  other data that is reasonably necessary to implement Sections 13A through 13F of this article.
(1-b)  "Actuarial experience study" has the meaning assigned by Section 802.1014, Government Code.
(1-c)  "Amortization period" means the time period necessary to fully pay a liability layer.
(1-d)  "Amortization rate" means the sum of the scheduled amortization payments for a given fiscal year for the current liability layers divided by the projected pensionable payroll for that fiscal year.
(1-e)  "Assumed rate of return" means the assumed market rate of return on fund assets, which is seven percent per annum unless adjusted as provided by this article.
(1-f)  "Average monthly salary" means, if the member has participated in the fund for:
(A)  three or more years, the total salary received by a member as a firefighter over the member's:
(i)  highest 78 biweekly pay periods for a member hired before the year 2017 effective date, including a member who was hired before the year 2017 effective date and who involuntarily separated from service but was retroactively reinstated in accordance with an arbitration, civil service, or court ruling; or
(ii)  last 78 biweekly pay periods ending before the earlier of the date the member terminates employment with the fire department, divided by 36, or the member began participation in the DROP, divided by 36; or
(B)  fewer than three years, the total salary paid to the member for the periods the member participated in the fund divided by the number of months the member has participated in the fund.
If a member is not paid on the basis of biweekly pay periods, "average monthly salary" is determined on the basis of the number of pay periods under the payroll practices of the municipality sponsoring the fund that most closely correspond to 78 biweekly pay periods.
(1-g)  "Beneficiary adult child" means a child of a member by birth or adoption who:
(A)  is not an eligible child; and
(B)  is designated a beneficiary of a member's DROP account by valid designation under Section 5(j-1).
(2)  "Board" or "board of trustees" means the board of trustees of a firefighters' relief and retirement fund established under this article.
(3)  "Code" means the federal Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.
(3-a)  "Confidentiality agreement" means a letter agreement sent from the municipal actuary or an independent actuary in which the municipal actuary or the independent actuary, as applicable, agrees to comply with the confidentiality provisions of this article.
(3-b)  "Corridor" means the range of municipal contribution rates that are:
(A)  equal to or greater than the minimum contribution rate; and
(B)  equal to or less than the maximum contribution rate.
(3-c)  "Corridor margin" means five percentage points.
(3-d)  "Corridor midpoint" means the projected municipal contribution rate specified for each fiscal year for 31 years in the initial risk sharing valuation study under Section 13C of this article, and as may be adjusted under Section 13E or 13F of this article, and in each case rounded to the nearest hundredths decimal place.
(4)  "Deferred retiree" means a member who is eligible for a benefit under Section 8(a) of this article.
(5)  "Disabled child" means any individual who is the child of a member by birth or adoption and who is totally disabled as a result of a physical or mental illness or injury, including retardation, at the time the member dies or who becomes so disabled before reaching 18 years of age.  The term includes a child the board determines is unable to pursue any gainful employment.
(6)  "DROP" means the deferred retirement option plan under Section 5 of this article.
(7)  "DROP account" means the notional account established to reflect the credits, contributions, and earnings of a member who has made a DROP election in accordance with Section 5 of this article.
(8)  "Eligible child" means a child of a member by birth or adoption who is unmarried and under 18 years of age, a disabled child, or under 23 years of age, unmarried, and a full-time student enrolled in an accredited college or university, but only if the member executes an election permitting the child to be treated as an eligible child in accordance with procedures established by the board or if the member does not have an eligible spouse.
(9)  "Eligible parent" means a parent of a member, by birth or by adoption while the member was a minor, who proves to the satisfaction of the board that the parent was a dependent of the member immediately before the member's death.
(10)  "Eligible spouse" means:
(A)  in the case of a member who dies after June 30, 1998, a spouse to whom the member was married at the time of the member's death;  or
(B)  in the case of a member who dies before July 1, 1998, a spouse to whom the member was married at the time the member's benefit under this article is scheduled to begin and at the time of the member's death.
(10-a)  "Employer normal cost rate" means the normal cost rate minus the member contribution rate.
(10-b)  "Estimated municipal contribution rate" means the municipal contribution rate estimated in a final risk sharing valuation study under Section 13B or 13C of this article, as applicable, as required by Section 13B(a)(5) of this article.
(11)  "Firefighter" means a full-time, fully paid, active, classified member of a regularly organized fire department of an incorporated municipality with a fund established under this article, including a member who has made a DROP election, but is otherwise described in this definition.
(11-a)  "Fiscal year," except as provided by Section 1B of this article, means a fiscal year beginning on July 1 and ending on June 30.
(12)  "Fund" means a firefighters' relief and retirement fund established under this article.
(12-a)  "Funded ratio" means the ratio of the fund's actuarial value of assets divided by the fund's actuarial accrued liability.
(12-b)  "Legacy liability" means the unfunded actuarial accrued liability:
(A)  for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2016, reduced to reflect:
(i)  changes to benefits or contributions under this article that took effect on the year 2017 effective date; and
(ii)  payments by the municipality and earnings at the assumed rate of return allocated to the legacy liability from July 1, 2016, to July 1, 2017, excluding July 1, 2017; and
(B)  for each subsequent fiscal year:
(i)  reduced by the contributions for that year allocated to the amortization of the legacy liability; and
(ii)  adjusted by the assumed rate of return.
(12-c)  "Level percent of payroll method" means the amortization method that defines the amount of the liability layer recognized each fiscal year as a level percent of pensionable payroll until the amount of the liability layer remaining is reduced to zero.
(12-d)  "Liability gain layer" means a liability layer that decreases the unfunded actuarial accrued liability.
(12-e)  "Liability layer" means the legacy liability established in the initial risk sharing valuation study under Section 13C of this article and the unanticipated change as established in each subsequent risk sharing valuation study prepared under Section 13B of this article.
(12-f)  "Liability loss layer" means a liability layer that increases the unfunded actuarial accrued liability.  For purposes of this article, the legacy liability is a liability loss layer.
(12-g)  "Maximum contribution rate" means the rate equal to the corridor midpoint plus the corridor margin.
(13)  "Member" means a firefighter or former firefighter who has satisfied the eligibility requirements under Section 13 of this article and who has not yet received a distribution of the entire benefit to which the person is entitled under this article.
(13-a)  "Minimum contribution rate" means the rate equal to the corridor midpoint minus the corridor margin.
(13-b)  "Municipality" means a municipality in this state having a population of more than 2 million.
(13-c)  "Municipal contribution rate" means a percent of pensionable payroll that is the sum of the employer normal cost rate and the amortization rate for liability layers, except as determined otherwise under the express provisions of Sections 13E and 13F of this article.
(13-d)  "Normal cost rate" means the salary weighted average of the individual normal cost rates determined for the current active population plus an allowance for projected administrative expenses.  The allowance for projected administrative expenses equals the administrative expenses divided by the pensionable payroll for the previous fiscal year, provided the administrative allowance may not exceed 1.25 percent of the pensionable payroll for the current fiscal year unless agreed to by the municipality.
(13-e)  "Normal retirement age" means:
(A)  for a member, including a member who was hired before the year 2017 effective date and who involuntarily separated from service but has been retroactively reinstated in accordance with an arbitration, civil service, or court ruling, hired before the year 2017 effective date, the age at which the member attains 20 years of service; or
(B)  except as provided by Paragraph (A) of this subdivision, for a member hired or rehired on or after the year 2017 effective date, the age at which the sum of the member's age, in years, and the member's years of participation in the fund equals at least 70.
(14)  "Off-duty disability" means a physical or mental disability that:
(A)  is likely to be permanent;  and
(B)  results from a cause other than a bodily injury received in, or illness caused by, the performance of a member's duties as a firefighter.
(15)  "On-duty disability" means a physical or mental disability that:
(A)  is likely to be permanent;  and
(B)  results from a bodily injury received in, or illness caused by, the performance of the member's duties as a firefighter.
(15-a)  "Payoff year" means the year a liability layer is fully amortized under the amortization period.  A payoff year may not be extended or accelerated for a period that is less than one month.
(15-b)  "Pensionable payroll" means the aggregate salary of all the firefighters on active service, including all firefighters participating in an alternative retirement plan established under Section 1C of this article, in an applicable fiscal year.
(15-c)  "Price inflation assumption" means:
(A)  the most recent headline consumer price index 10-year forecast published in the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Survey of Professional Forecasters; or
(B)  if the forecast described by Paragraph (A) of this subdivision is not available, another standard as determined by mutual agreement between the municipality and the board.
(15-d)  "Projected pensionable payroll" means the estimated pensionable payroll for the fiscal year beginning 12 months after the date of the risk sharing valuation study prepared under Section 13B of this article at the time of calculation by:
(A)  projecting the prior fiscal year's pensionable payroll forward two years using the current payroll growth rate assumptions; and
(B)  adjusting, if necessary, for changes in population or other known factors, provided those factors would have a material impact on the calculation, as determined by the board.
(15-e)  "PROP" means the post-retirement option plan under Section 5A of this article.
(15-f)  "PROP account" means the notional account established to reflect the credits and contributions of a member or surviving spouse who made a PROP election in accordance with Section 5A of this article before the year 2017 effective date.
(16)  "Salary" means wages as defined by Section 3401(a) of the code, plus any amount not includable in gross income under Section 104(a)(1), Section 125, Section 132(f), Section 402(g)(2), Section 457, or Section 414(h)(2) of the code, except that with respect to amounts earned on or after the year 2017 effective date, salary excludes overtime pay received by a firefighter or the amount by which the salary earned by a firefighter on the basis of the firefighter's appointed position exceeds the salary of the firefighter's highest tested rank.
(16-a)  "Third quarter line rate" means the corridor midpoint plus 2.5 percentage points.
(16-b)  "Ultimate entry age normal" means an actuarial cost method under which a calculation is made to determine the average uniform and constant percentage rate of contributions that, if applied to the compensation of each member during the entire period of the member's anticipated covered service, would be required to meet the cost of all benefits payable on the member's behalf based on the benefits provisions for newly hired employees.  For purposes of this definition, the actuarial accrued liability for each member is the difference between the member's present value of future benefits based on the tier of benefits that apply to the member and the member's present value of future normal costs determined using the normal cost rate.
(16-c)  "Unfunded actuarial accrued liability" means the difference between the actuarial accrued liability and the actuarial value of assets.  For purposes of this definition:
(A)  "actuarial accrued liability" means the portion of the actuarial present value of projected benefits attributed to past periods of member service based on the cost method used in the risk sharing valuation study prepared under Section 13B or 13C of this article, as applicable; and
(B)  "actuarial value of assets" means the value of fund investments as calculated using the asset smoothing method used in the risk sharing valuation study prepared under Section 13B or 13C of this article, as applicable.
(16-d)  "Unanticipated change" means, with respect to the unfunded actuarial accrued liability in each subsequent risk sharing valuation study prepared under Section 13B of this article, the difference between:
(A)  the remaining balance of all then-existing liability layers as of the date of the risk sharing valuation study; and
(B)  the actual unfunded actuarial accrued liability as of the date of the risk sharing valuation study.
(16-e)  "Unused leave pay" means the accrued value of unused leave time payable to an employee after separation from service in accordance with applicable law and agreements.
(16-f)  "Year 2017 effective date" means the date on which S.B. No. 2190, Acts of the 85th Legislature, Regular Session, 2017, took effect.
(17)  "Years of participation" means the number of years that a member has participated in the fund by making the contributions required by this article, as determined under rules established by the board.