H.B. No. 3635

	AN ACT
	relating to financial assistance paid to the survivors of certain
	law enforcement officers, firefighters, and other public employees
	killed in the line of duty.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Section 615.022, Government Code, is amended to
	read as follows:
	Sec. 615.022.  PAYMENT TO SURVIVORS. (a)  If there is an
	eligible surviving spouse, the state shall pay the benefits
	described by Subsection (d) [$500,000] to the eligible surviving
	spouse.
	(b)  If there is no eligible surviving spouse, the state
	shall pay the benefits described by Subsection (d) [$500,000] in
	equal shares to surviving children.
	(c)  If there is no eligible surviving spouse or child, the
	state shall pay the benefits described by Subsection (d) [$500,000]
	in equal shares to surviving parents.
	(d)  An eligible survivor, or eligible survivors in equal
	shares, are entitled to receive a lump sum payment in the amount
	provided by this subsection.  The lump sum payment amount payable to
	an eligible survivor during the 12 months beginning September 1,
	2019, is $500,000.  Effective September 1 of each following year,
	the board of trustees of the Employees Retirement System of Texas by
	rule shall adjust the amount of the lump sum payment required under
	this subsection by an amount equal to the percentage change in the
	Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, published by the
	Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor
	for the preceding year.  The amount paid to an eligible survivor or
	survivors as adjusted under this subsection is calculated based on
	the date of the decedent's death and not on the date the eligible
	survivor or survivors file a claim under this chapter.
	SECTION 2.  The changes in law made by this Act apply to a
	payment of assistance to survivors of certain public employees on
	or after the effective date of this Act regardless of the date the
	public employee died.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 3635 was passed by the House on May 9,
	2019, by the following vote:  Yeas 141, Nays 2, 2 present, not
	voting.
	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 3635 was passed by the Senate on May
	22, 2019, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays 0.
	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	APPROVED:  _____________________
	Date
	_____________________
	Governor