Section 29.91 - Restoring Forfeited Benefits After Conviction is Overturned(a) Upon receipt of a notice of a judgment overturning the conviction of a former TRS member or service retiree for a qualifying felony that resulted in the termination of membership in TRS or the forfeiture of service retirement benefits required in § 824.009, Government Code, or upon receipt of a notice of judgment that the person whose membership in TRS was terminated or who forfeited service retirement benefits as required in § 824.009, Government Code meets the requirements for innocence under § 103.001(a)(2), Civil Practice and Remedies Code, TRS shall restore the person to membership or distribute service retirement benefits to the person as provided in this section.(b) A person whose membership in TRS was terminated as provided in § 29.90 of this subchapter before the distribution of service retirement benefits commenced shall be restored to membership in TRS as follows: (1) If there was a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) in effect before September 1, 2017, membership shall be restored upon receipt from the former member of an amount equal to the total accumulated contributions paid on behalf of the member under § 29.90 of this subchapter, including any accumulated contributions paid to an alternate payee under the terms of a QDRO. However, TRS shall not pay to the alternate payee any portion of any benefits restored under this section under the terms of a QDRO in effect before September 1, 2017, even if the benefits result in part from the reinstatement of service credit initially credited during the marriage.(2) If a QDRO was entered on or after September 1, 2017 under the authority provided in § 824.009(i), Government Code, the person shall repay all of the accumulated contributions distributed under §29.90, and: (A) If a distribution of service retirement benefits has not yet commenced to the alternate payee, the amount of accumulated contributions held under §29.90(c)(3) for the benefit of the alternate payee shall be restored to the member account. Any future distribution of benefits on behalf of the member shall be subject to the terms of the QDRO entered under the authority of § 824.009, Government Code; or(B) If a distribution of service retirement benefits has commenced to the alternate payee, the former member shall pay the amount of accumulated contributions refunded on his or her behalf less the portion of accumulated contributions retained by TRS under the terms of the QDRO and TRS shall commence distributing to the member the portion of the retirement benefits elected by the member and not awarded to the alternate payee. The alternate payee shall continue to receive the portion of the standard service retirement annuity awarded under the terms of the QDRO until the earlier of the death of the alternate payee or the member.(3) If a QDRO was entered on or after September 1, 2017 but not under the authority provided in §824.009(i), membership shall be restored upon receipt from the person of an amount equal to the total accumulated contributions paid on behalf of the member under §29.90, including any accumulated contributions paid to an alternate payee. However, TRS shall not pay to the alternate payee any portion of any benefits restored under this section under the terms of a QDRO in effect before September 1, 2017, even if the benefits result in part from the reinstatement of service credit initially credited during the marriage.(4) If there was no QDRO in effect with respect to the member, membership is restored upon receipt by TRS of an amount equal to all accumulated contributions refunded to the member.(c) A person whose membership in TRS was terminated as provided in §29.90 after the commencement of service retirement benefits shall be restored to TRS membership as follows:(1) If there was a QDRO in effect before September 1, 2017 or on or after September 1, 2017 under the authority provided in § 824.009(i), Government Code: (A) the member shall receive an amount equal to the accrued total of annuity payments, including any PLSO payments, previously forfeited due to the conviction through the calendar month of notice of the judgement overturning the conviction to TRS plus interest, less any amounts paid to the alternate payee under the terms of a QDRO;(B) the member shall repay to TRS an amount equal to the portion of the accumulated contributions refunded to the member. A distribution of service retirement annuities, less any amount distributed to the alternate payee under the terms of the QDRO, may resume to the member effective with the annuity payable for the calendar month in which TRS receives the member's payment of the amount refunded under this section;(2) If there was a QDRO in effect after September 1, 2017 and not under the authority of provided in § 824.009(i), Government Code:(A) the member shall receive an amount equal to the accrued total of annuity payments, including any PLSO payments, previously forfeited due to the conviction through the calendar month of notice of the judgement overturning the conviction to TRS plus interest;(B) the member shall repay to TRS an amount equal to all accumulated contributions refunded by TRS, including any accumulated contributions paid to an alternate payee pursuant to the QDRO. A distribution of service retirement annuities may resume to the member effective with the annuity payable for the calendar month in which TRS receives the member's payment of the amount of refunded accumulated contributions. TRS shall not pay to the alternate payee any portion of any benefits restored under this section under the terms of the QDRO, even if the benefits result in part from the reinstatement of service credit initially credited during the marriage.(3) If there was no QDRO in effect with respect to the member, the member shall receive an amount equal to the accrued total of annuity payments, including any PLSO payments, previously forfeited due to the conviction through the calendar month of notice of the judgement overturning the conviction to TRS plus interest. A distribution of service retirement annuities may resume to the member effective with the annuity payable for the calendar month in which TRS receives the member's payment of the total amount accumulated contributions refunded to the member.(d) The amount of interest payable under subsection (c) of this section is the amount of interest provided for member contributions in § 825.307, Government Code, for the time period that the service retirement benefits were previously forfeited.34 Tex. Admin. Code § 29.91
Adopted by Texas Register, Volume 42, Number 52, December 29, 2017, TexReg 7719, eff. 1/4/2018