Texas Government Code 813.503 – Credit Transferable Between Elected and Employee Class
(a) Subject to Subsection (a-1), a member may establish in, or have transferred to, the employee class all service credited in the elected class, if the contributions made to establish the service in the elected class equal or exceed contributions required of a member of the employee class for the same amount of service during the same time and at the same rate of compensation. Subject to Subsection (a-1), a member or retiree who has, or had at the time of retirement, at least eight years of service credit in the elected class of membership, exclusive of military service, may transfer service credit between classes before or after retirement.
(a-1) A member or retiree who takes the oath of office for a position included in the elected class of membership, other than a district attorney or criminal district attorney, may not transfer service to the employee class under Subsection (a) until the person no longer holds that position.
Terms Used In Texas Government Code 813.503
- Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Month: means a calendar month. See Texas Government Code 312.011
- Person: includes corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005
(b) A member or retiree who has, or had at the time of retirement, at least 20 years of service credit in the retirement system, including the sum of at least 10 years of service credit as a person who has been elected or appointed to two or more offices of a house of the legislature, as recorded in the journals of the senate and the house of representatives, may transfer the person’s service credit to the elected class. A person who makes a transfer under this subsection may continue to transfer the credit between classes before or after retirement.
(c) A retiree, or the designated beneficiary of a deceased retiree, who retired from the employee class and was eligible to have retired from the elected class may elect to have the annuity recomputed as if the retirement had been from the elected class.
(d) A person may make a transfer or election under this section by notifying the retirement system. If the person making the transfer or election is a retiree or the designated beneficiary of a deceased retiree, payment of benefits under the recomputed annuity begins with the payment that becomes due in the month following the month in which the retirement system receives the notice.