The effort to restore local control of state-governed municipal pension plans picked up steam last week with the filing of Senate Bill 1994. The measure would allow the sponsoring authority of a local pension plan to make changes by ordinance or resolution that “supplement or supersede the operative provisions of the public retirement system” within certain guidelines.
While the Senate’s version of local pension control takes a slightly different tack than the House version, HB 2608, both measures promise to break down bureaucratic barriers to local control and, in many instances, give community stakeholders a seat at the table.
As discussed previously (see here, here, and here), there are right now 13 municipal retirement systems that are “specifically enabled by state statute,” according to the Texas Bond Review Board’s report 2015 Guide to Public Retirement Systems in Texas. These systems, found under Article 6243 V.T.C.S., include:
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Austin Employees’ Retirement System |
Fort Worth Employees’ Retirement Fund |
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Austin Fire Fighters Relief & Retirement Fund |
Galveston Employees’ Retirement Plan for Police |
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Austin Police Retirement System |
Houston Firefighters’ Relief & Retirement Fund |
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Dallas Police & Fire Pension System—Combined |
Houston Municipal Employees Pension System |
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Dallas Police & Fire Pension System—Supplemental |
Houston Police Officer’s Pension System |
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El Paso Fireman’s Pension Fund |
San Antonio Fire & Police Pension Fund |
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El Paso Police Pension Fund |
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Source: Texas Pension Review Board