HBA-TBM, MPM H.B. 2176 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2176 By: Homer Pensions & Investments 3/11/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Current state law does not permit certain peace officers with out-of-state law enforcement experience to apply that experience toward service credit in the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS). This may create an obstacle to the recruitment of experienced officers for service in Texas. House Bill 2176 authorizes law enforcement or custodial officers to apply previous out-of-state service toward service credit in ERS. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 2176 amends the Government Code to authorize a law enforcement or custodial officer who is an eligible member of the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS) to establish service credit for previous out-of-state service performed as a peace officer if the member performing the service was licensed by a governmental entity equivalent of the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education or was not required to be licensed by the equivalent entity and was commissioned by a municipal police department or county sheriff's office in another state. A person is eligible to establish service credit if the person is a contributing member as a law enforcement or custodial officer and the person applies for previous out-of-state service credit before the second anniversary of the date the member becomes a law enforcement or custodial officer. H.B. 2176 authorizes a member to establish out-of-state service credit by depositing a contribution amount with ERS for each month of service claimed and sets forth the method for calculating the contribution and interest on the contribution. The bill provides that the amount of service credit a member is authorized to establish may not be less than 24 months or more than 60 months of service credit. The bill specifies the manner in which previous service credit may or may not be established and used. H.B. 2176 provides that the state is not required to make contributions for out-of-state service credit. The bill authorizes ERS to require applicants for out-of-state service credit to submit any information necessary for purposes of determining eligibility, amount of credit, or amounts of required contributions. A person who on the effective date of this Act has been a member of ERS as a law enforcement or custodial officer for two years or more is authorized to apply for previous out-of-state service credit before January 1, 2002. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.