The Texas House on Monday gave final approval to a bill that would give retired teachers a small bump in their monthly retirement checks. For some, this could be their first cost-of-living adjustment in almost 20 years.
The House unanimously passed an amended version of Senate Bill 10, authored by state Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston. The lower chamber’s version of the bill seeks to give a 6% increase to retirees’ monthly checks if they retired before 2004, a 4% increase if they retired between 2004 and 2014, and a 2% increase if they retired between 2015 and 2021.
The bill calls for a $5,000 one-time payment to retirees age 70 or older and stipulates that annual costof- living increases should not exceed 2%, depending on whether the Teacher Retirement System met or surpassed its projected investment gains. It would also raise the portion of active teachers’ salaries that goes into the teachers’ retirement fund from 8% to 9%. The state would contribute a matching amount to the fund.
