Here's how TRS legislation ended up in the 86th legislative session

Retirement | TRS | Social Security Texas Legislature
Date Posted: 5/28/2019 | Author: Monty Exter
As the 86th legislative session came to a close yesterday, there were some significant changes made to the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) that warrant a closer look.
TRS Pension Reform
Senate Bill (SB) 12 by Sen. Joan Huffman (R - Houston), sponsored in the House by Rep. Greg Bonnen (R - League City), was passed 31:0 in the Senate and 145:1 in the House on the last day to pass bills. The bill will immediately reduce the funding window on the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) pension from over 90 years to pay off the unfunded liability to under 30 years. Reducing the time frame to less than 30 years also allowed the legislature to provide current retirees with an additional pension payment during the current fiscal year. The 13th check, as the supplemental payment is often called, will be the amount of the retiree's regular monthly annuity payment up to a maximum amount of $2,000.

TRS Healthcare
ATPE hoped that the conference committees for SB 12 and House Bill 3, the omnibus school finance bill that also passed, would find better ways to help active and retired teachers deal with the rising costs of their healthcare. There were internal discussions about increasing the state share of active employee health insurance costs. Currently, the state pays $75 per month toward premiums and requires school districts to pay a minimum of $150 per month on behalf of their staff. Employees cover the rest of the cost of their health insurance premiums. SB 12 significantly increases the state's share of contributions going into the TRS pension system, and the final version of HB 3 does require districts to spend additional dollars on employee compensation (which could include increasing the district's share of health insurance costs). Despite these improvements, neither bill addressed the inadequacies of the state's share of active employee premiums in the end.
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