85R3050 LED-D     By: Martinez H.B. No. 440       A BILL TO BE ENTITLED   AN ACT   relating to a cost-of-living increase applicable to benefits paid   by the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.          BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:          SECTION 1.  Subchapter H, Chapter 824, Government Code, is   amended by adding Section 824.703 to read as follows:          Sec. 824.703.  ADJUSTMENT FOR COST OF LIVING; ANNUAL   DETERMINATION.  (a)  Notwithstanding any other law, the amount of a   service retirement benefit, disability retirement benefit, or   death benefit paid under this chapter is adjusted in accordance   with this section as necessary to reflect inflation.          (b)  Each year, during the last seven days of October, the   board of trustees shall set the rate of the adjustment for the next   calendar year to equal the percentage increase, if any, in the   Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers   (CPI-W) most recently published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics   of the United States Department of Labor and used by the United   States Social Security Administration to provide a cost-of-living   adjustment for social security benefit payments payable beginning   in January of the next year.          (c)  The board of trustees shall recompute the amount of a   benefit paid under this chapter by applying the adjustment computed   under Subsection (b) to the amount otherwise required to be paid as   determined in accordance with the other applicable provisions of   this chapter.          (d)  The board of trustees may not pay a benefit increase   under this section in any calendar year unless the board finds that   the retirement system is actuarially sound and has money available   to pay increased benefits in that year. If the board of trustees   finds that the retirement system is actuarially sound but that the   amount of money available is not sufficient to pay the full amount   of the adjustment under Subsection (b), the board shall compute the   largest rate of adjustment possible for the amount of money   available while maintaining the actuarial soundness of the system   and shall use that rate in recomputing the benefit amount under   Subsection (c) for that calendar year.          SECTION 2.  This Act applies only to a benefit paid by the   Teacher Retirement System of Texas on or after January 1, 2018.          SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.