HB 1596

relating to cost-of-living increases applicable to certain
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 824.704 to read as follows:
Sec. 824.704.  COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENTS FOR INFLATION;
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 annual percentage increase, if any, in
the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical
Workers (CPI-W) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the
United States Department of Labor as determined by the commissioner
of social security under 42 U.S.C. Section 415(i) for purposes of
providing an annual cost-of-living increase to social security
benefit payments payable in the next calendar year.
(c)  Subject to Subsection (d), the board of trustees shall
increase the amount of a benefit payable under this chapter by
applying the adjustment rate set by the board of trustees under
Subsection (b) to the amount otherwise required to be paid as
determined in accordance with the other applicable provisions of
(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 increasing benefits under Subsection (c)
SECTION 2.  This Act applies only to a benefit paid by the
Teacher Retirement System of Texas on or after January 1, 2026.
SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.