Bill > HB343

This bill provides a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for certain retirement and benefit payments from the Employees Retirement System of Texas, effective January 2026. The adjustment applies to annuitants (benefit recipients) in the employee class who were receiving specific types of monthly benefits in December 2025, including standard retirement, disability retirement, death benefits, and alternate payee annuities. The percentage of the adjustment depends on when the original retirement or death occurred: 7% for retirements or deaths on or before August 31, 2014, and 4% for those after that date. To be eligible, recipients must be living on the adjustment's effective date, and the original retirement or death must have occurred before September 1, 2024 (for retirees) or September 1, 2025 (for death benefits). The bill excludes certain benefits, such as those for elected class members, and requires the board of trustees to recompute monthly annuities to include this additional adjustment. The bill will take effect immediately if it receives a two-thirds vote in the Texas Legislature, otherwise it will take effect on September 1, 2025, and will apply only to benefit payments made on or after January 1, 2026.

Labor and Employment

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB343