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36 Document(s) [ Subject: Public retirement systems ]

Committee: Senate Finance
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Bail | Border security | Coronavirus | Economy | Employees Retirement System of Texas | Federal funds | Harris County | Homestead exemptions | Hospitals | Inflation | Investment of public funds | Long-term care | Medicaid | Mental health services | Nursing homes | Operation Lone Star (Border security) | Property tax exemptions | Property taxes | Public retirement systems | Recidivism | Retirees | Russia | School finance | State employee salaries | State employee turnover | Tax and expenditure limits | Tax revenue | Teacher Retirement System of Texas |
Library Call Number: L1836.87 F49
Session: 87th R.S. (2021)
Online version: View report [108 pages  File size: 4,001 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Federal Funds: Report on the state use of federal COVID-19 relief funds provided under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, the American Rescue Plan Act, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Acts, and similar federal legislation. Examine local use of federal relief funding, including funding provided to school districts through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund. Evaluate the overall fiscal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on state agencies, including costs incurred due to federal mandates. Identify barriers to the effective utilization of funds and make recommendations on the expenditure of unappropriated funds. In addition, evaluate and report on the spending by state agencies that have been utilizing "one-time" federal funding (temporary enhancements, e.g. FMAP and ESSER) sources, where federal funding will likely be significantly reduced in future biennia.
2. Property Tax Relief: Examine and recommend ways to reduce Texans' property tax burden. Review and report on proposals to use or dedicate state revenues in excess of the state spending limit to eliminate the school district maintenance and operations property tax.
3. Inflation: Review and report on the effect inflation is having on the business community and state government, including state salaries, retiree benefits, the state economy, and cost of state services.
4. Inflation: Review and report on the impact of inflation on units of local governments' revenue collections and property taxpayers' tax bills, including the homestead exemption.
5. Tax Exemptions: Examine Texans' current tax exemptions and report on whether adjustments are merited because of inflation or any other factors.
6. Russia Divestiture: Examine and report on options for state asset owners to divest their positions in companies that invest in the Russian Federation.
7. State Pension Reforms: Monitor the implementation of recent statewide pension reforms to the Employees Retirement System of Texas and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.
8. Bail Bond Reform: Monitor the implementation of recent bail bond reform legislation along with its economic impact on the judicial and correctional system. Assess any barriers to implementation, the law’s effect on pretrial release and jail populations, and ways to further promote public safety and efficiency.
9. Operation Lone Star: Monitor appropriations and spending supporting Operation Lone Star. Evaluate and report on the effectiveness of spending to secure the southern border. Identify and report on resources needed to ensure support for the State National Guard, as well as overall resources necessary for border security for future legislative consideration.
10. Long-term Care Funding: Examine state investments in the long-term nursing home care system. Study nursing facility funding issues and the impact of the pandemic on capacity and delivery of care. Explore nursing facility quality metrics and recommend strategies to improve the sustainability of the long-term care workforce.
11. Medicaid: Monitor the financial impact of federal decision-making affecting supplemental Medicaid funding for Texas hospitals and health care systems, including negotiations between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Texas Medicaid agency regarding the state's 1115 Medicaid waiver and other federal proposals reducing supplemental funding streams for Texas.
12. Mental Health Delivery: Examine the state mental health service delivery system. Study the state's Comprehensive Plan for State-Funded Inpatient Mental Health Services and the Statewide Behavioral Health Strategic Plan and evaluate the existing state investments in mental health services and state hospital capacity. Review current forensic and civil mental health service waitlists, and recommend ways to improve coordination and outcomes to reduce waitlists. Explore and report on options for additional mental health service capacity, including building state hospitals in the Panhandle and Rio Grande Valley areas.
Committee: House Pensions, Investments, and Financial Services
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Bonds | County government | Employees Retirement System of Texas | Foreign investments | Pension Review Board, Texas | Public retirement systems | Russia | Tax evasion | Teacher retirement | Teacher Retirement System of Texas |
Library Call Number:
Session: 87th R.S. (2021)
Online version: View report [44 pages  File size: 1,440 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Monitor the agencies and programs under the Committee's jurisdiction and oversee the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 87th Legislature. Conduct active oversight of all associated rulemaking and other governmental actions taken to ensure the intended legislative outcome of all legislation, including the following:
  • HB 1258, 87th R.S., relating to data matching with financial institutions to facilitate the collection of certain delinquent taxes;
  • HB 1585, 87th R.S., relating to the operations and functions of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas;
  • HJR 99, 87th R.S., proposing a constitutional amendment authorizing a county to finance the development or redevelopment of transportation or infrastructure in unproductive, underdeveloped, or blighted areas in the county; authorizing the issuance of bonds and notes; and
  • SB 1444, 87th R.S., relating to participation in the uniform group coverage program for active school employees and to a study concerning health coverage for school district employees.
2. Review and evaluate the actuarial soundness of the Employees Retirement System (ERS) and Teacher Retirement System (TRS) pension funds.
3. Review the Texas Local Fire Fighters Retirement Act to ensure proper governance and financial oversight. Examine whether the Pension Review Board has proper oversight and authority to implement necessary corrective measures.
4. Evaluate the actuarial soundness of the Law Enforcement and Custodial Officer Supplemental Retirement Fund and Judicial Retirement System of Texas Plan 2. Identify strategies to reduce and eliminate existing unfunded liabilities and recommend structural enhancements that improve the financial health and viability of the funds moving forward.
5. Review the impact of investments by public retirement systems of their endowment and other trust funds in businesses and funds owned or controlled by the Russian government or Russian nationals, and determine the need for investment restrictions. Consider the impact of any proposed investment restrictions on fund performance.
Supporting documents
Committee: House Pensions, Investments, and Financial Services
Title: Committee meeting handouts and testimony, August 16, 2022
Library Call Number:
Session: 87th R.S. (2021)
Online version: View document [66 pages  File size: 1,886 kb]
Committee: House Pensions, Investments, and Financial Services
Title: Committee meeting handouts and testimony, August 25, 2022
Library Call Number:
Session: 87th R.S. (2021)
Online version: View document [68 pages  File size: 5,738 kb]
Committee: Senate State Affairs
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Abortion | Biometric identification | Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act | Employees Retirement System of Texas | Human trafficking | Investment of public funds | Licensing and Regulation, Texas Department of | Privacy | Public retirement systems | Sexually oriented businesses | Teacher Retirement System of Texas |
Library Call Number: L1836.87 St29a
Session: 87th R.S. (2021)
Online version: View report [36 pages  File size: 779 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Protecting the Unborn: Monitor the impact of SB 8, 87th R.S., The Texas Heartbeat Act, and the expanded funding for alternatives to abortion programs passed by the 87th Legislature. Study alternatives to abortion programs' effectiveness in meeting the needs of pregnant and post-partum women and recommend how the Legislature should strengthen the program. Recommend ways to provide additional alternatives to abortion and comprehensive informed consent resources to mothers who are expecting.
2. Human Trafficking: Examine opportunities and make recommendations to reduce the profitability of and demand for human trafficking in Texas. Determine ways to increase public awareness of the proliferation of human trafficking, as well as resources for victims and survivors. Monitor the implementation of HB 1540, 87th R.S., and examine changes in arrest rates, judicial dispositions, and sentencing amongst offenders due to provisions of the legislation. Examine opportunities for attorneys to combat human trafficking in their local communities, including use of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, to generate revenue for local law enforcement officials combatting human trafficking. Make any other recommendations to further prevent human trafficking.
3. Privacy and Transparency: Review the current state laws that protect and secure individuals' biometric identifiers. Explore ways to protect against the use of biometric identifiers for unintended purposes without an individual's consent and make recommendations to the Senate. Study websites that closely resemble government websites or fraudulently represent companies that they are not, including websites that use names of state agencies or licenses. Make recommendations to ensure that Texans' are not mislead, taken advantage, or defrauded, especially when they try to seek assistance from a state website.
4. Investment Practices: Study the investment practices of financial services firms and how those practices affect the state’s public pensions. Make recommendations to ensure the state’s public pension funds are not being invested to further political or social causes.
Committee: House Pensions, Investments, and Financial Services
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Attorney General of Texas | Consumer credit and debt | Consumer Credit Commissioner, Office of | Consumer protection | Employees Retirement System of Texas | Investment of public funds | Pension liabilities | Private retirement systems | Public retirement systems | Small businesses | Teacher health insurance | Teacher Retirement System of Texas |
Library Call Number: L1836.86 P387
Session: 86th R.S. (2019)
Online version: View report [42 pages  File size: 2,254 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Monitor the agencies and programs under the Committee's jurisdiction and oversee the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 86th Legislature. Conduct active oversight of all associated rulemaking and other governmental actions taken to ensure intended legislative outcome of all legislation, including the following:
  • HB 1442, which is the sunset bill for the Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner (OCCC). The legislation contains provisions relating to the regulation of online lenders. Monitor the OCCC's rules regulating the online lending industry.
  • HB 2945, which relates to consumer protection against credit card skimmers. Monitor the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) rules, polices, and procedures regulating the payment terminals on motor fuel dispensers and credit card skimmer violations. Examine the process by which the OAG creates, manages, and utilizes the payment fraud fusion center.
  • SB 322, which relates to the evaluation and reporting of investment practices and performances of certain public retirement systems. Examine the process by which state agencies and public retirement systems collaborate on, plan, and implement the structure necessary to perform these evaluations.
  • SB 2224, which relates to requiring a public retirement system to adopt a written funding policy. Examine the process by which state agencies and public retirement systems collaborate on, plan, and implement the structure necessary to create sound and practical funding policies.
2. Monitor the Teacher Retirement System's (TRS) actions in implementing high deductible regional plans for certain school districts interested in providing alternatives to the current TRS Active Care options.
3. Study pension plan and personal retirement savings options for small businesses in order to be competitive with state and larger employers.
4. Review and evaluate the actuarial soundness of the Employees Retirement System and TRSpension funds. Examine the cost of and potential strategies for achieving and maintaining the actuarial soundness of the funds. Examine the effect the unfunded liabilities could have on the state's credit. Examine the state's investment policies and practices, including investment objectives, targets, disclosure policies, and transparency. (Joint charge with the House Committee on Appropriations)
5. Monitor the State Auditor's review of agencies and programs under the Committee's jurisdiction. The Chair shall seek input and periodic briefings on completed audits for the 2019 and 2020 fiscal years and bring forth pertinent issues for full committee consideration.
Committee: House Pensions
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Employees Retirement System of Texas | Health insurance | Pension liabilities | Public retirement systems | State employee early retirement programs | Teacher Retirement System of Texas | Texas County and District Retirement System | Texas Municipal Retirement System |
Library Call Number: L1836.85 P387
Session: 85th R.S. (2017)
Online version: View report [46 pages]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Review the state's oversight of pension systems and study the effectiveness of corrective mechanisms, including the Funding Soundness Restoration Plan and Pension Review Board Funding Guidelines. Make recommendations to enhance state oversight and to maintain or achieve soundness among local pension systems.
2. Evaluate the governance structures, including investment oversight, of the Employee Retirement System (ERS), Teacher Retirement System (TRS), Texas Municipal Retirement System, Texas County and District Retirement System, and Texas Emergency Services Retirement System. Identify best practices and make recommendations to strengthen oversight within the systems.
3. Review and evaluate health incentive programs within the group benefit programs at ERS and TRS. Identify best practices among similar programs and barriers to implementation. Make recommendations for achieving further savings through existing and/or new programs.
4. Monitor the agencies and programs under the Committee’s jurisdiction and oversee the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 85th Legislature.
Committee: Senate State Affairs
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Abortion | Attorney General of Texas | Court costs and fees | Emergency communications | Emergency management | Evacuation routes | Fees | Freedom of religion | Freedom of speech | Gun control | Higher education | Human trafficking | Natural disasters | Penalties and sentences (Criminal justice) | Price gouging | Public retirement systems | Theft |
Library Call Number: L1836.85 ST29a
Session: 85th R.S. (2017)
Online version: View report [71 pages]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Review the interaction between federal, state, and local agencies in charge of responding to natural disasters. Examine emergency situation operations, including evacuation routes and procedures, and the efficient use of Disaster Recovery Centers. Make recommendations to ensure emergency management officials have the tools and authority necessary to promptly and appropriately respond to disaster areas and alert citizens to potential threats.
2. Study and make recommendations on the benefit of the state maintaining a single, web-based source of comprehensive information that outlines the State Emergency Operations during times of disaster.
3. Review the Attorney General's efforts related to price-gouging and identify existing issues with current law, if any, that could be remedied to further protect Texans during times of disaster.
4. Review laws related to looting crimes. Examine whether current penalties and enhancements are sufficient to deter looting crimes during a disaster.
5. Second Amendment: Review local ordinances imposed on sellers and venues that affect a person's rights under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. Examine state and local regulations and restrictions regarding the carrying of weapons during a natural disaster. Make recommendations on whether any legislation is needed to address the regulatory barriers to the full exercise of the Second Amendment rights of citizens.
6. Pensions: Examine and assess public pension systems in Texas. Specifically, review and assess (1) the different types of retirement plans; (2) the actuarial assumptions used by retirement systems to value their liabilities and the consequences of amending those assumptions; (3) retirement systems' investment practices and performance; and (4) the adequacy of financial disclosures including asset returns and fees. Make recommendations to ensure public pension system retirees' benefits are preserved and protected.
7. Attorney General Jurisdiction: Examine the Attorney General's jurisdiction on issues of alleged violations of state laws regarding abortion and multi -jurisdictional human trafficking cases. Make recommendations to ensure uniform enforcement across the state.
8. Court Fees: Examine the structure of court fees and make recommendations to ensure statutory filing fees and court costs are appropriate and justified. Provide reeommendations for proper agency oversight of fee collection.
9. Campus Free Speech: Ascertain any restrictions on Freedom of Speech rights that Texas students face in expressing their views on campus along with freedoms of the press, religion, and assembly. Recommend policy changes that protect First Amendment rights and enhance the free speech environment on campus.
10. Religious Liberty: Monitor the implementation of legislation that protects citizens' religious freedoms, including Senate Bill 24 (sermon safeguard) and House Bill 555 (religious liberty of county clerks), and make recommendations for any legislation needed to ensure that citizens' religious freedoms are not eroded by local ordinances or state or federal law.
11. Monitoring: Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on State Affairs, 85th R.S., and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/ or complete implementation. Specifically, monitor the following: Implementation of Senate Bill 2190, relating to the public retirement systems of certain municipalities; • Implementation of House Bill 3158, relating to the retirement systems for and the provision of other benefits to police and firefighters in certain municipalities; • Implementation of House Bill 3976, relating to the administration of and benefits payable under the Texas Public School Retired Employees Group Benefits Act; and • Implementation of Senate Bill 16, relating to decreasing the fee for the issuance of a license to carry a handgun.
Committee: House Pensions
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Employees Retirement System of Texas | Financial investments | Governmental Accounting Standards Board | Law enforcement | Pension liabilities | Pension Review Board, Texas | Public retirement systems |
Library Call Number: L1836.84 P387
Session: 84th R.S. (2015)
Online version: View report [16 pages]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Study the impact that fluctuations in global financial markets have had on public pension funds. Analyze assumed rates of return on investments, structures among asset classes, long-term and shorter-term investment goals, and make appropriate recommendations to ensure the investment structure of public pension funds are meeting fiduciary responsibilities.
2. Examine Texas pension funds’ compliance with Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Financial Reporting Statements 67 and 68, and identify the effect the reporting requirements are having on the state's pension systems.
3. Examine the immediate and long-term fiscal impact to the state of the unfunded liabilities for the Law Enforcement and Custodial Officer Supplemental Retirement Fund (LECOS) as part of the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS). Make appropriate legislative recommendations.
4. Examine the fiscal and policy impacts of structural reforms that would increase state public pension plans' ability to achieve and maintain actuarial soundness. Evaluate the feasibility, costs, and benefits of utilizing one-time funding increases to reduce or eliminate unfunded liabilities.
5. Evaluate the investment performance benchmarks utilized by the state's pension funds and the impact portfolio diversification and short- and long-term market assumptions have had on achieving expected investment returns. Analyze the fee structure and investment strategy for various investment classes to ensure the costs are reasonable and competitive versus other large public and private pension trust funds.
6. Conduct legislative oversight and monitoring of the agencies and programs under the committee's jurisdiction and the implementing of relevant legislation passed by the 84th Legislature. In conducting this oversight, the committee should: a. consider any reforms to state agencies to make them more responsive to Texas taxpayers and citizens; b. identify issues regarding the agency or its governance that may be appropriate to investigate, improve, remedy, or eliminate; c. determine whether an agency is operating in a transparent and efficient manner; and d. identify opportunities to streamline programs and services while maintaining the mission of the agency and its programs.
Committee: Senate State Affairs
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Campus carry | Eminent domain | Employees Retirement System of Texas | Ethics Commission, Texas | Ethics complaints | Freedom of religion | Government ethics | Guardianship | Guns | Judge salaries | Judicial selection | Military personnel | Open carry | Organized labor | Police chiefs | Public Integrity Unit | Public retirement systems | Religious conservatives (Politics) | Religious discrimination | Straight ticket voting | Teacher Retirement System of Texas | Texas Rangers (Law enforcement) | Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act | Voting systems | Weapons |
Library Call Number: L1836.84 St29a
Session: 84th R.S. (2015)
Online version: View report [70 pages]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Religious Liberty: Examine measures to affirm 1st Amendment religious liberty protections in Texas, along with the relationship between local ordinances and state and federal law. Make recommendations to ensure that the government does not force individuals, organizations or businesses to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs.
2. Union Dues: Examine the practice of using public funds and employees for the payment processing of union dues. Make recommendations on whether Texas should end this practice.
3. Chief Law Enforcement Officers: Examine whether there are chief law enforcement officers within the state who deny NFA applications without any cause. Examine the application and certification process and recommend ways to eliminate no-cause denials.
4. Judicial Matters: Examine the need to adjust Texas judicial salaries to attract, maintain, and support a qualified judiciary capable of meeting the current and future needs of Texas and its citizens. Study and recommend whether Texas should delink legislators' standard service retirement annuities from district judge salaries. Examine the effect of eliminating straight-party voting for candidates for judicial office and make recommendations to ensure candidates are given individual consideration by voters.
5. Eminent Domain: Gather and review data on the compensation provided to private property owners for property purchased or taken by entities with eminent domain authority. Examine the variance, if any, between the offers and the fair market values of properties taken through eminent domain. Make recommendations to ensure property owners are fairly compensated.
6. Ethics: Review current ethics laws governing public officials and employees and recommend changes necessary to inspire the public’s confidence in a transparent and ethically principled government. Review public officials’ reporting requirements to the Texas Ethics Commission. Examine the categorization of ethics reporting violations and make recommendations to encourage accurate reporting and timely correction to inadvertent clerical errors.
7. Monitoring Charge: Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on State Affairs during the 84th R.S. and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/or complete implementation. Specifically, monitor the following: 1) Implementation of open and campus carry legislation and determine if the current laws regulating the places that handguns can be carried are easily understood or if clarification is needed to ensure the average citizen understands when, where, and under what circumstances it is lawful to carry a weapon, versus when it is a criminal offense for which there may be a defense; 2) Requirements for guardianships; 3) The electronic voting program for certain military members serving overseas; 4) Changes made to the Employment Retirement System regarding member contributions and proposed reforms to the Teacher Retirement System of Texas; and 5) The establishment of a public integrity unit under the authority of Texas Rangers.
Committee: Senate State Affairs
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Consumer credit and debt | Eminent domain | Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 | Employees Retirement System of Texas | Federal government | Firefighters | Forest Service, Texas A&M | Health insurance | Health insurance exchanges | Liability | Medicaid | Military personnel | Municipalities | Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act | Peace officers | Primary elections | Property rights | Public retirement systems | Public Safety, Texas Department of | State employee benefits | State employee turnover | States' rights | Statutes of limitation | Teacher Retirement System of Texas | Voting by mail | Voting systems | Wildfires | Workers' compensation | Zoning |
Library Call Number: L1836.82 St29a
Session: 82nd R.S. (2011)
Online version: View report [177 pages]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Study the policies and actions the State can pursue to preserve state authority and protect Texas citizens from federal overreach in the form of conditional federal grants, conditional federal preemption, and excessive legislation and regulation interfering with states' enumerated powers by Congress.
2. Examine the Texas Workers' Compensation system and make recommendations for changes to meet the needs of Texas employers and employees. Specifically, review the following:
  • the dispute resolution process and benefits available from employers that do not subscribe to workers compensation;
  • the adequacy of income benefits in the workers’ compensation system, specifically on high?wage earners receiving the maximum compensation rate;
  • identify and report on fatalities in the Workers’ Compensation System, including the amount of death and burial benefits paid to beneficiaries and the Subsequent Injury Fund since 2000;
  • the return-­to-­work numbers and results for injured employees in the Workers’ Compensation System that are referred to the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services.
3. Study the feasibility and fiscal impact to consumers of altering the insurance code to allow for the purchase of health insurance across state lines.
4. Monitor the potential impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) on insurance regulations, Medicaid and CHIP, health care outcomes and overall health of all Texans, and the state budget in Texas. Additionally, monitor the current constitutional challenges to PPACA and other court cases associated with PPACA, and ensure that the state does not expend any resources until judicial direction is clear. (Joint charge with Senate Health & Human Services Committee)
5. Study and make recommendations on statutory provisions and judicial decisions relating to the statute of limitations on a cause of action relating to consumer debt.
6. Examine establishing a workforce retention program or deferred retirement option plan (DROP) for Texas Department of Public Safety commissioned peace officers and whether any plan can be built with actuarially sustainable factors while meeting the needs of officers.
7. Examine the feasibility of implementing Health Reimbursement Accounts and Medicare exchanges for Medicare eligible participants currently covered by and receiving health coverage through the Employees Retirement System, the Teachers Retirement System, the University of Texas, and Texas A&M University. Identify any cost savings to the state and to retirees that would occur under such a plan.
8. Consider the costs and benefits of the creation of liability protection for private companies and individuals when commissioned by the Texas Forest Service to assist in fighting a fire that is not on the company's or individual's own land. Examine whether state policy should prohibit an employer from terminating an employee who is a volunteer firefighter on the grounds that the employee missed work because the employee was responding to an emergency. Identify any appropriate limitations that should apply to such a policy.
9. Examine the effectiveness of the Private Real Property Rights Preservation Act (Chapter 2007, Government Code), and whether it should apply to municipalities.
10. Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on State Affairs, 82nd Legislature, Regular and Called Sessions, and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/or complete implementation. Specifically, monitor the following:
  • implementation of SB 100, relating to the implementation of the MOVE Act, and the impact on local and statewide elections and military voters;
  • implementation of the Interstate Health Care Compact.
Committee: House Pensions, Investments, and Financial Services
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: House Committee on Pensions, Investments, and Financial Services, Texas House of Representatives interim report, 2010 : a report to the House of Representatives, 82nd Texas Legislature
Subjects: Consumer credit and debt | Economic development | Public retirement systems | School administration | Teacher retirement |
Library Call Number: L1836.81 P387
Session: 81st R.S. (2009)
Online version: View report [37 pages  File size: 868 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Study the impact of the debt relief industry, including debt management and debt settlement organizations, and the implications of regulating that industry.
2. Examine Texas school districts' administration of their employees' optional retirement investments.
3. Review and study the overall history, goals, and performances of the state's economic development program, Certified Capital Company. Identify and recommend changes as necessary.
4. Examine the performance and accountability of the Texas public pension funds and make recommendations as needed.
5. Monitor the agencies and programs under the committee's jurisdiction.
Committee: House Pensions and Investments
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Employees Retirement System of Texas | Houston Municipal Employees Pension System | Peace officers | Pension liabilities | Prescription drug costs | Prescription drugs | Public retirement systems | Retire/Rehire | Teacher Retirement System of Texas | Texas Municipal Retirement System |
Library Call Number: L1836.80 P387
Session: 80th R.S. (2007)
Online version: View report [64 pages  File size: 12,741 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Evaluate the possibility of requiring the state and employee contribution rate to meet the annually required contribution for the statewide retirement funds each biennium in order to prevent unfunded liabilities.
2. Explore options for funding other post-employment benefits, and examine strategies employed by other governmental entities in addressing these obligations.
3. Study the impact of actuaries on public pension plans, and evaluate the need for legislation to ensure appropriate actuarial assumptions, actuarial audits or regulation of actuaries contracting with state pension plans.
4. Analyze the impact of allowing a retiree to return to work in the Texas Municipal Retirement System.
5. Assess the representational proportion of each of the stakeholder groups, eligibility requirements, qualifications, and selection and election procedures of the board of trustees of the retirement systems.
6. Examine eligibility criteria for membership and possible inclusion of additional employees in the Law Enforcement and Custodial Officers Supplemental Retirement Fund (LECOSRF). Evaluate the effect of diversion of funds from the auto registration fee on the unfunded liability of the LECOSRF, and explore the possibility of creating a similar supplemental retirement program as part of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas for those members performing law enforcement duties.
7. Evaluate and make recommendations, if necessary, regarding state contracts with pharmacy benefit managers. Assess the feasibility of combining prescription drug programs of state health insurance programs. All recommendations should take into consideration any budgetary impacts. (Joint Interim Charge with the House Committee on Government Reform.)
8. Examine the operation of the Houston Municipal Employees Pension System, its Board of Trustees and staff. (Joint Interim Charge with the House Committee on Urban Affairs.)
9. Monitor the agencies and programs under the committee's jurisdiction.
Committee: Senate State Affairs
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Eight-liners | Election fraud | Employees Retirement System of Texas | Entergy Corporation | Gambling | Health care costs | Health insurance | Health maintenance organizations | Insurance industry | Investment of public funds | Legislative intent | Medical research | Medically uninsured | Mental health services | Mentally ill inmates | Mentally ill persons | Privatization | Public retirement systems | Statutory revision | Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation | Texas Health Insurance Risk Pool | Texas Lottery | Tort reform | Voter identification | Voting systems | Workers' compensation |
Library Call Number: L1836.80 St29a
Session: 80th R.S. (2007)
Online version: View report [308 pages  File size: 43,740 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Study the factors that impact the transparency and efficiency of the health insurance market. Make recommendation to result in the use of best practices, lower health care costs, and better health outcomes, including the following:
  • Study factors contributing to the increasing cost of health care;
  • Study insurer and health maintenance organization (HMO) use of tiers, ratings, or classifications to differentiate among credentialed physicians already admitted to the insurer or HMO panel of preferred providers or network;
  • Examine methods to remediate incorrect tiering, ratings, or classifications;
  • Examine how physicians are notified of the standards against which they will be compared and whether they are notified of the standards prior to the evaluation period;
  • Improve transparency with respect to the marketing of prescription drugs; and
  • Study the use of certain nonprofit health corporations - approved under Chapter 162, Occupations Code, in Texas. Examine whether such entities operate on a statewide scale or on a limited scale, whether such entities adhere to the formalities required of corporations, whether the operation of such entities are influenced by owners or members who are not licensed to practice medicine, and whether such entities have ever been decertified or investigated for failure to maintain compliance with Texas law or regulations.
2. Study and make recommendations for reducing the number of uninsured Texans, focusing on the following:
  • Options to increase access to private health insurance, including 3 Share programs, employer sponsored plans and portable, individual insurance;
  • Incentives for encouraging counties and local governments to participate in private health insurance cost sharing for their respective residents;
  • Options to reduce health care premiums, including creation of special plans with increased deductibles and catastrophic coverage;
  • Implementation and possible expansion of health services districts;
  • Other state programs for increasing market-based coverage of the uninsured, including costs and effectiveness;
  • Options that will increase consumer choice and personal responsibility; and
  • Analysis of state and federal regulations that contribute to higher premium costs.
3. Study and make recommendations relating to the Texas Health Insurance Risk Pool, including the current eligibility for coverage requirements, the economic profiles of participants and former participants, the affordability of the insurance products’ premiums and deductibles, and the public's awareness of the Pool.
4. Study the issue of security and accuracy in Texas elections. The study should include the benefits and risks of electronic voting technology, including the necessity of maintaining a paper record of each electronic vote. The study should also include an analysis of fraud in Texas elections, including prosecution rates for voter fraud, the processes for purging ineligible voters from voter lists, and the integrity of the mail-in and provisional ballot systems. Study the effectiveness of electronic voting technology and voter ID laws in other states. Monitor the implementation of the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002, including the implementation of the Texas Election Administration Management system. Recommend statutory and regulatory changes designed to ensure that only eligible voters are allowed to vote in Texas elections and that each vote is accurately counted.
5. Review and make recommendations for requiring insurance coverage of routine medical care for patients with a life-threatening disease or condition who have elected to participate in a clinical trial.
6. Study the economic impact of recent civil justice reform legislation in Texas.
7. Study whether Texas should adopt the Restatement 2nd of Torts Sec. 674 (Wrongful use of Civil Proceedings) and whether a person should be allowed to recover court and attorneys fees when he has been forced to defend a lawsuit filed without probable cause or for intimidation purposes.
8. Monitor the Texas workers' compensation system, and the continued implementation of the reforms of HB 7, 79th R.S., by the Texas Department of Insurance and other state agencies. Specifically evaluate the recent decision by the Texas Supreme Court in Entergy v. Summers in terms of its impact and the impact of previous legislation on the workers' compensation system.
9. Study and make recommendations to reduce illegal gambling in Texas, including, but not limited to, the illegal use of Eight-Liners.
10. Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of phasing in a defined-contribution pension for future employees versus the existing defined-benefit pension plan. Study options for transition or implementation issues and how the phase-in could be structured. Evaluate the possibility of requiring the state employee contribution rate to meet the annually required contribution for the statewide retirement funds each biennium in order to prevent unfunded liabilities.
11. Study the relationship between the public mental health system and the criminal justice and civil courts systems, including the identification and sharing of information regarding mentally ill offenders, including minors, among criminal justice and mental health agencies, the courts, state hospitals, and the Veterans Administration. Study how current confidentiality laws impact the exchange of information among groups described above. Study the sentencing of mentally ill offenders compared to non-mentally ill offenders, including minors, and the affect that has on statewide prison capacity and on the quality of health care provided to mentally ill offenders. (Joint charge with Senate Criminal Justice Committee)
12. Review and evaluate appropriate state regulation of a private operator of the state lottery should the state receive bids for a lease of the lottery that merit strong consideration. Provide recommendations for ensuring the security and integrity of the lottery and for adequate consumer protections. (Joint charge with Senate Finance Committee)
13. Study the feasibility and the advisability of establishing an investment policy that is consistent across all state trust funds, including the trust funds of the Employees Retirement System, the Teachers Retirement System, the Permanent University Fund, and the Permanent School Fund. Identify best investment policies for state trust funds. Examine recent portfolio diversification strategies and the effect they have on long-term fund performance. The recommendations should consider what is an acceptable rate of return, an acceptable degree of risk, the appropriateness of certain investments. (Joint charge with Senate Finance Committee)
14. Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the State Affairs Committee, 80th R.S., and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/or complete implementation. In particular, monitor and report on the effect of HB 2365, 80th R.S., which allows public entities to report "other post employment benefits" (OPEBs) on a statutory modified accrual basis, including any effect on auditor opinions, bond ratings, or other fiscal issues. Monitor the implementation of SB 1731, 80th R.S., relating to transparency of health information, and SB 1846, 80th R.S., relating to TRS.
Committee: House Urban Affairs
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Affordable housing | Crime laboratories | Deed restrictions | Housing and Community Affairs, Texas Department of | Houston Municipal Employees Pension System | Houston Police Department | Houston, Texas | Property tax exemptions | Public retirement systems | Senior citizens | Tax appraisals |
Library Call Number: L1836.80 UR1
Session: 80th R.S. (2007)
Online version: View report [37 pages  File size: 3,305 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Asses the current senior housing market and available options for affordable senior housing.
2. Research and update legislation that permits residential neighborhoods whose deed restrictions have lapsed to reinstate those deed restrictions or create needed deed restrictions through a petition committee by expanding them to more areas.
3. Study and evaluate the levels, methods and alternatives by which the state funds all affordable housing programs, focusing on administrative cost-effectiveness to determine greater returns on investment, savings and efficiency. Examine the current procedures and applications of the annual, integrated Low Income Housing Plan prepared by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, and prepare recommendations for the development of a comprehensive, long-range, statewide plan or model to address growing need throughout the state.
4. Monitor current methodology involving departmental rules, procedures and policies governing state and federal compliance in the evaluation and ranking of all multifamily affordable housing applications for the allocation of funds during the annual awards cycle.
5. Examine the development and implementation of a physical standards (asset oversight) rating system for multifamily residential rental facilities, to be used by all local and state issuers of tax-exempt bonds and tax credits, to determine eligibility for future financing and for compliance enforcement purposes.
6. Examine the policies and procedures by which local tax appraisers value rent-restricted affordable housing properties, and authorize legislatively established tax exemptions. Evaluate application and interpretation of existing statutes by local appraisal districts to affordable housing properties throughout the life cycle of developments. Make recommendations for statutory changes. (Joint Interim Charge with the House Committee on Local Government Ways and Means.)
7. Examine the operation of the Houston Municipal Employees Pension System, its Board of Trustees and staff. (Joint Interim Charge with the House Committee on Pensions and Investments.)
8. Monitor the report issued by the Independent Investigator for the Houston Police Department Crime Laboratory and Property Room, the independent panel review of certain criminal convictions prompted by the conclusions of this report, and the implementation by the City of Houston of any reforms recommended in this report. Also monitor other urban crime laboratories and their compliance with state laws regulating their functions. (Joint Interim Charge with the House Committee on Law Enforcement.)
Committee: Senate State Affairs
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Interim report to the 80th Legislature
Subjects: Child Protective Services | Election fraud | Emergency medical services | Eminent domain | Employees | Employees Retirement System of Texas | Employers | Employment | Health care costs | Health maintenance organizations | Liability | Lobbyists | Medical bill balance billing | Privatization | Public retirement systems | State mandated health insurance | Teacher Retirement System of Texas | Voter identification | Voting by mail | Workers' compensation |
Library Call Number: L1836.79 St29a
Session: 79th R.S. (2005)
Online version: View report [211 pages  File size: 6,521 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Study the Employees Retirement System of Texas ("ERS") including the actuarial soundness of the ERS pension fund; the implementation of cost-saving measures in the ERS group health insurance plan; the suggestion of further cost-saving measures such as the implementation of a 3-tiered provider network; the effectiveness of the third party administrator of the ERS group health insurance plan in managing inflation; and the feasibility of consolidating the administration of all state group health plans under a single state agency.
2. Study the Teachers Retirement System of Texas ("TRS") including the actuarial soundness of the TRS pension fund; the implementation of cost-saving measures in the TRS group health insurance plan; the suggestion of further cost-saving measures such as the implementation of a 3-tiered provider network; the implementation of SB 1370, 79th R.S.; the effectiveness of the third party administrator of the TRS group health insurance plan in managing inflation; and the feasibility of consolidating the administration of all state group health plans under a single state agency
3. Study and make recommendations on how election officials could verify the identity of a voter without hindering a person's right to vote. Include an analysis of the extent to which individuals are casting multiple votes because of any lack of voter identification verification. Make recommendations on how the state could improve its vote-by-mail system to ensure the authenticity of those ballots.
4. Monitor the implementation of HB 7, 79th R.S., relating to the workers compensation system of this state.
5. Study the regulation and management of health care plans, including the following:
  • Study the reimbursement methodology of health care plans for out-of-network claims, the adequacy of health plan networks to provide appropriate coverage, the impact of out-of-network balance billing by physicians and health care providers and the accurate disclosure of patients' out-of-pocket costs.
  • Study the discounting and/or waiving of co-pays, deductibles and co-insurance by physicians and health care providers. Specifically, how this practice can impact the cost to private and public health plans and the impact to acute, multi-service hospitals, including safety net hospitals.
  • Evaluate health care cost transparency by health care providers and access to that information by patients.
  • Review data reported to the Texas Department of Insurance by health care plans, investigate possible expansion of health plans' reportable data, including, but not limited to, administrative costs, and what, if any, is the appropriate release and publication of that information.
6. Study and review current law on the doctrine of eminent domain, including the U.S. Supreme Court case in Kelo v. City of New London. Monitor the implementation of SB 7, 79th Legislature, 2nd Called Session, and make any necessary recommendations as to the use of eminent domain for economic development purposes and the issue of what constitutes adequate compensation for property taken through the use of eminent domain.
  • Determine whether a constitutional amendment is prudent and/or necessary to protect private property owners from condemnations for economic development purposes.
  • Determine which state, regional, and local governmental entities have eminent domain powers and how those powers may be used. Make recommendations regarding their necessity, fairness, and effectiveness.
  • Study the public policy implications relating to Chapter 2007, Government Code, Private Real Property Rights Preservation Act, its effectiveness in protecting private property rights, and the current impact of regulatory takings on private property owners.
7. Study the costs associated with mandates to insurance companies for increased coverage for specific illnesses, medical conditions, or diseases, including obesity. Provide a cost assessment of the impact of such mandates to the state and local units of government. Include data and analysis of the costs and medical impact associated with insurance mandates which have been enacted in other states, as well as any short- and long-term cost-savings. Develop recommendations on how to provide increased cost-effective coverage, especially to populations with impairments and diseases, as well as the underinsured/uninsured.
8. Study the prevalence, legality and ethics of entities that actively lobby the Legislature to impact the lawmaking process while that entity is in any way a recipient of state funds.
9. Study and make recommendations regarding the cost drivers of emergency medical services. Make recommendations on how to improve and sustain EMS services for Texas, as well as reduce costs to health care plans, businesses, and individuals.
10. Study and review current Texas law on the doctrine of statutory employer, including the 2004 First District Court of Appeals' decision in Etie v. Walsh & Albert Co. and make recommendations of changes in state laws, if necessary, regarding the doctrine of statutory employer and indemnification in construction contracts. Study the current use of Consolidated Insurance Programs and make legislative recommendations, if appropriate.
11. Assess the benefit of limiting the civil liability for noneconomic damages against non-profit organizations involved in the privatization of child welfare services.
Committee: Senate Finance
Title: Interim Report - General Budget and Tax Issues
Library Catalog Title: Interim report of the Senate Finance Committee : recommendations to the 79th Legislature.
Subjects: Employees Retirement System of Texas | Fire Fighter's Pension Commissioner | Judicial Retirement System of Texas | Public retirement systems | Rainy Day Fund | State budget certification | State budgets | State government debt | Tax revenue | Teacher Retirement System of Texas |
Library Call Number: L1836.78 F49 v. 1
Session: 78th R.S. (2003)
Online version: View report [355 pages  File size: 15,793 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. General Budget Oversight. Monitor state agency implementation of HB 1, 78th R.S., by reviewing key strategies, programs, and rider provisions.
2. Revenue Oversight. Monitor and track the Texas' key revenue sources. Develop recommendations to keep the Legislature apprised of key revenue source activity throughout the duration of this and future fiscal biennia.
3. General Budget and Tax Issues Rainy Day Fund. Track the history of appropriations out of and deposits of revenue into the Texas' rainy day fund. Monitor FY 2004-2005 deposits of revenue to the fund. As needed, make recommendations on how to improve revenue sources and the manner in which the fund can be spent. Pension Fund Review. Report on the current condition of the state's pension systems, including an analysis of unfunded liabilities. Make recommendations, as necessary, to ensure Texas meets its financial obligations in the future. Issuance of State Bonds. Review the role of the Public Finance Authority and the Bond Review Board in the issuance of state bonds, and make recommendations, as necessary, for improvements. Budget Certification. Study the budget certification process. Make recommendations on how to improve the process of certifying the state budget by the Comptroller of Public Accounts. General Appropriations Act Bill Pattern Review. Review effectiveness of current and past bill patterns, and make recommendations, as necessary, for improvements.
Committee: House Pensions and Investments
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Report to the Legislature
Subjects: Employees Retirement System of Texas | Public retirement systems | Teacher Retirement System of Texas |
Library Call Number: L1836.78 P387
Session: 78th R.S. (2003)
Online version: View report [25 pages  File size: 78 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Examine the feasibility, risks and benefits associated with the use of Pension Obligation Bonds in order to reduce unfunded liabilities in municipal and state retirement systems.
2. Study the risks, benefits and impact associated with the "retire in place" practice as it relates to the Employees Retirement System, Teacher Retirement System, County and District Retirement System, and Municipal Retirement System.
3. Monitor agencies and programs under the committee's jurisdiction and legislation passed by the 78th Legislature.
Committee: House Return-to-Work, House Joint
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Joint House Committee on Return-to-Work, House Appropriations Subcommittee, House Committee on Pensions and Investments, Texas House of Representatives interim report, 2002 : a report to the House of Representatives, 78th Texas Legislature
Subjects: Public retirement systems | Retire/Rehire | State employees | Teacher retirement |
Library Call Number: L1836.77 r314
Session: 77th R.S. (2001)
Online version: View report [23 pages  File size: 907 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. The Joint House Committee on "Return-to-Work" will examine the cost impacts on the state budget and the pension funds of allowing state and certain school district employees to "return-to-work" while receiving retirement benefits. The committee will consider policy issues raised by such action, including differences in current law between state employees and teachers. Specifically consider the practice of "retiring-in-place."
Committee: House Pensions and Investments
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: House Committee on Pensions and Investments, Texas House of Representatives interim report, 2000 : a report to the House of Representatives, 77th Texas Legislature.
Subjects: Employees Retirement System of Texas | Public retirement systems | Securities Board, State | State comparisons | State employee turnover | State employees | Teacher Retirement System of Texas | Teacher shortages |
Library Call Number: L1836.76 p387
Session: 76th R.S. (1999)
Online version: View report [79 pages  File size: 162 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Review the adequacy of the state's monitoring of local retirement systems.
2. Evaluate the pros and cons of defined contribution retirement plans that do not guarantee members any specific level of benefits upon retirement. Plans adopted in other jurisdictions should be considered and compared with Texas' state plans in regard to their ability to provide security to retirees, cost, and fairness to diverse employee groups.
3. Consider a general policy for the state regarding the re-employment of people who have retired under a state retirement plan.
4. Review the need for multiple cash and reduced annuity options such as lump sum and "DROP" plans.
5. Conduct active oversight of the agencies under the committee's jurisdiction.
Committee: House Pensions and Investments
Title: Interim report
Library Catalog Title: Committee on Pensions and Investments, Texas House of Representatives, interim report, 1996 : a report to the House of Representatives, 75th Texas Legislature.
Subjects: Career and technical education | Employees Retirement System of Texas | Public retirement systems | Teacher health insurance | Teacher retirement | Teacher Retirement System of Texas | University faculty |
Library Call Number: L1836.74 p387
Session: 74th R.S. (1995)
Online version: View report [32 pages  File size: 1,323 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Study the Optional Retirement Program for certain personnel in higher education.
2. Assess the advantages and disadvantages of allowing vocational education teachers to receive limited service credit in the Teacher Retirement System for vocational work experience.
3. Monitor the implementation and assess the effectiveness of the health insurance program for active members of the Teacher Retirement System as mandated by SB 9, 74th R.S..
Committee: House Retirement and Aging
Title: Interim report
Library Catalog Title: Committee on Retirement and Aging, Texas House of Representatives interim report, 1992 : a report to the House of Representatives, 73rd Texas Legislature.
Subjects: Cost of living | Employees Retirement System of Texas | Public retirement systems | Teacher Retirement System of Texas |
Library Call Number: L1836.72 r314
Session: 72nd R.S. (1991)
Online version: View report [131 pages  File size: 5,529 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Monitor and oversee legislation enacted during the 72nd Regular and Special Called Sessions that was considered by the Committee on Retirement and Aging; Performance Audit Review Recommendations; and any agency-initiated changes.
2. Carry out budget and oversight responsibilities for all agencies, boards, and commissions listed in Rule 3, Section 29. A. Monitor and oversee documentation of salary increases. B. Verify the number and status of outcomes and outputs as identified in the Appropriations Bill (HB 1, 72nd Legislature, 1st Called Session). C. Review agencies' existing performance standards and determine whether new standards are needed.
3. Consider the requirements of appropriate actuarial valuation systems necessary to assure sound retirement programs for the TRS and the ERS.
4. Consider the fiduciary duty requirement imposed upon the Boards of Trustees of the TRS and the ERS by the Texas Constitution and the U.S. Internal Revenue Code and the nature of the authority necessary to exercise that duty.
5. Consider the methods of protecting TRS and ERS members from post-retirement increases in the cost of living.
6. Consider the appropriateness of current statutory restrictions for investment of the Law Enforcement and Custodial Office Supplemental Retirement Fund. Under present law, this fund may be invested only in fixed income securities.
7. Consider authorizing the ERS to treat the retirement funds it manages as one fund for investment purpose only.
Committee: Joint Protective Orders and State Employee Pension Plans
Title: Interim report
Library Catalog Title: Report to the 71st Legislature / the House-Senate Joint Interim Committee on Protective Orders and State Employee Pension Plans.
Subjects: Private retirement systems | Protective orders | Public retirement systems |
Library Call Number: L1836.70 p946
Session: 70th R.S. (1987)
Online version: View report [57 pages  File size: 1,788 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Study problems associated with protective orders, review existing visitation and domicile laws, comparing Texas statutes with those of other states.
2. Study Texas law and procedure relating to the preparation of a uniform law providing for the direct payment of pension benefits to certain qualified nonemployee spouses patterned after the Retirement Equity Act of 1984. Resolve the conflicts in state and federal law regarding availability of health insurance on divorce or death of the employee spouse.
3. Study the development of a state Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QUADRO) program comparable to the federal plan.
Supporting documents
Committee: Joint Protective Orders and State Employee Pension Plans
Title: HCR 17, 70th leg., 2nd C.S.
Library Call Number: HCR 17
Session: 70th R.S. (1987)
Online version: View document [2 pages  File size: 162 kb]
Committee: House Retirement and Aging
Title: Interim report
Library Catalog Title: Interim report, 70th Legislature / Committee on Retirement and Aging.
Subjects: Affordable housing | Aging and Disability Services, Texas Department of | Employees Retirement System of Texas | Health insurance | Life insurance | Long-term care insurance | Medicaid | Medical reimbursements | Nursing homes | Nursing shortages | Public retirement systems | Senior citizens | Teacher Retirement System of Texas |
Library Call Number: L1836.70 r314
Session: 70th R.S. (1987)
Online version: View report [119 pages  File size: 4,409 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. To study the feasibility and cost of expansion of the shared housing program of the Texas Department of Aging.
2. Study the televised advertising of health and life insurance plans aimed at the elderly population.
3. To study the state retirement systems.
4. To study the current and projected financial condition of the private long-term care industry and examine possible funding alternatives, including the feasibility of tax deductible payments for nursing home care.
5. To study the costs and benefits of expanding internal administration of real estate investments in comparison to engaging outside real estate advisors by the Teachers Retirement System.
Committee: House Retirement and Aging
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Interim report to the 70th Texas Legislature / Texas House of Representatives, Committee on Retirement & Aging.
Subjects: Firefighters | Nursing homes | Occupational licenses | Public retirement systems | Quality of care |
Library Call Number: L1836.69 r314
Session: 69th R.S. (1985)
Online version: View report [37 pages  File size: 1,133 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. To study the education or training requirements of nursing home aides and the need for licensing of same, and to review nursing home complaints, complaint procedures, and state inspection report results to insure swifter action in correcting bad situations.
2. To study the present financing arrangements for the Law Enforcement and Custodial Officer Supplemental Retirement Fund and determine the need to provide a fully funded system on a long term basis, and to study the legislative history of volunteer fire department retirement programs and assess the condition of the participating and non-participating plans.
Supporting documents
Committee: Senate State Affairs
Title: SR 811
Library Call Number: SR 811
Session: 67th R.S. (1981)
Online version: View document [3 pages  File size: 706 kb]
Committee: House Employment Practices
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Report of the Committee on Employment Practices, Texas House of Representatives, 66th Legislature.
Subjects: Crime victims | Crime Victims' Compensation Fund | Food stamps | Public retirement systems | Social Security | Unemployment | Unemployment benefits | Welfare | Workers' compensation |
Library Call Number: L1836.66 em74
Session: 66th R.S. (1979)
Online version: View report [46 pages  File size: 1,563 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Review all aspects of the worker's compensation law including: coverage, weekly payments for temporary total disability. benefits for permanent disability, administrative rules, penalties to insure that the responsibilities of the law are fulfilled, the feasibility of self-insurance, and other related matters. These efforts should be coordinated with the Committee on Insurance.
2. Monitor the organizational activities of the State Pension Review Board.
3. Review the administration of the Crime Victims Compensation Act. Study fine collection and claims processing and make recommendations for improvement. Summarize federal legislation on crime victims compensation. *
4. Oversight activities shall be conducted for all appropriations-related actions of those agencies assigned to this committee for appropriative purposes during the 66th Regular Session of the Legislature. Procedures suggested for this purpose during the last interim are recommended. The agencies include: Texas Employment Commission, Merit System Council, Texas Department of Labor and Standards, Industrial Accident Board, State Pension Review Board, and Office of the Attorney General - Worker's Compensation.
5. Study the relationship between the numbers of Social Security and worker's compensation beneficiaries to determine if a formula could be devised to use both programs in providing benefits.
6. Study the relationship between the numbers of unemployed, Unemployment Insurance recipients, and recipients of A.F.D.C. and Food Stamps.
7. Monitor the activities of the Industrial Accident Board with regard to the implementation of the Crime Victims Compensation Act.
Committee: House Intergovernmental Affairs
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: To the speaker and members of the Texas House of Representatives, 66th Legislature : report of the / Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, Texas House of Representatives, 65th Legislature.
Subjects: Community Affairs, Texas Department of | Councils of government | Counties | County government | Land use regulations | Municipal annexation | Municipalities | Public retirement systems | Real estate development | Social Security | Urban sprawl |
Library Call Number: L1836.65 in8a
Session: 65th R.S. (1977)
Online version: View report [90 pages  File size: 2,452 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Oversight responsibility of agency expenditures and related transactions. This function shall encompass a review and monitoring of all appropriations-related actions of those agencies assigned to this Committee for appropriative purposes during the 65th Regular Session of the Legislature, to wit: Department of Community Affairs.
2. A study of urban development in general, to include urban sprawl and its effect; annexation policies of cities and the problems and effects caused thereby; and the emerging administrative problems of urban areas, including methods of financing improvements and urban blight and renovation.
3. A study local government structures, including powers and resources and demands thereupon with recommendations as to any necessary legislative action to provide flexibility and uniformity of operation.
4. A study of intra-state regions and special districts to include a report on the trends towards metropolitan area governments, and recommendations as to any necessary legislative action to control or redirect the direction of regional councils of government.
5. A study of the methodology, effect of and financial ramifications of the State electing to withdraw participation in the social security system of state employees.
Committee: House Public Pension Plans, House Joint
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: A compilation of interim reports to the sixty-sixth legislative session, Texas House of Representatives.
Subjects: Financial investments | Investment of public funds | Public retirement systems | University of Houston |
Library Call Number: L1836.65 h816 7
Session: 65th R.S. (1977)
Online version: View report [94 pages  File size: 2,532 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Study all local public pension systems with detailed information for Fort Worth, Houston, El Paso, Austin, and Dallas. Include fiscal condition, actuarial soundness, participation requirements, benefit levels, investment policies, and general administrative practices.
2. Study all police and firefighter plans. Include the same information stated above
3. Comment on the definition and importance of actuarial soundness.
4. Comment specifically on the strengths of each state pension system with recommendations for improvements.
5. State the type of information that should be included in actuarial reports and elaborate on the importance of periodic reporting.
6. Touch on the University of Houston investment problems being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Try to discover if such transactions are being made by the pension systems in their investment practices.
Supporting documents
Committee: House Public Pension Plans, House Joint
Title: Joint committee studies.
Library Call Number: LRL
Session: 65th R.S. (1977)
Online version: View document [7 pages]
Committee: House Intergovernmental Affairs
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Interim report : sixty-fifth legislative session / Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, Texas House of Representatives.
Subjects: Councils of government | Indigent health care | Organized labor | Public retirement systems | State employees |
Library Call Number: L1836.64 in8
Session: 64th R.S. (1975)
Online version: View report [38 pages  File size: 1,541 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Study whether is would be beneficial to the citizens of Texas to grant collective bargaining rights to public employee. *
2. Review the purpose and functions of the Councils of Governments. *
3. Study the problem of providing hospital care for non-resident indigents in Texas county hospital districts. *
4. Study the Firemen's and Policemen's Civil Service and Pension Systems. *
Supporting documents
Committee: House Intergovernmental Affairs
Title: Background information for interim committee report.
Library Catalog Title: Background information for interim committee report / House of Representatives, Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs.
Library Call Number: L1836.64 in8b
Session: 64th R.S. (1975)
Committee: House Labor
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Report of the Committee on Labor, Texas House of Representatives, 64th Legislature to the speaker and members of the Texas House of Representatives, 65th Legislature.
Subjects: Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 | Employment agencies | Employment Commission, Texas | Organized labor | Public retirement systems | Unemployment benefits | Wages |
Library Call Number: L1836.64 l113
Session: 64th R.S. (1975)
Online version: View report [118 pages  File size: 4,317 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Review all laws affecting the Department of Labor and Standards to effectuate consistent, complementary statutory provisions.
2. Study and appraise the unemployment and placement services and the employment compensation services available to workers in Texas.
3. Survey the retirement benefits and pension plans of employers in the State of Texas.
Supporting documents
Committee: House Old Age Assistance/Social Security, Special
Title: Testimony Taken During the Legislative Committee Investigation of the State Department of Public Welfare in Connection with the Payment of Old Age Pensions, August 2nd - 4th, 1943 (transcript).
Library Catalog Title: Minutes
Library Call Number: L1801.9 IN8 48 TPW
Session: 48th R.S. (1943)
Online version: View document [98 pages  File size: 42,991 kb]
Committee: House Confederate Pension Warrants, Investigate
Title: Report
Library Catalog Title: Report of Investigating Committee.
Subjects: Public retirement systems |
Library Call Number: H.J. of Tex., 33rd Leg., 2nd C.S. 252 (1914)
Session: 33rd R.S. (1913)
Online version: View report [5 pages  File size: 191 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Investigate the delay, if any, on the part of the Confederate pensioners of Texas in receiving their quarterly pension warrants for the quarter ending August 31, 1914.

* This represents an abstract of the report contents. Charge text is incomplete or unavailable.

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